Thorn in my Pride
by Savory
Summary: The Bible says the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the sons and that pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Edward, Bella, Carlisle and the rest of the family are about to have these notions tested. Sequel to Sometimes Salvation in the Eye of the Storm. A/H Rated M for content.
1. Chapter 1

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**While this story is a sequel to Sometimes Salvation in the Eye of the Storm it will be its own story separate from the first. It is not absolutely necessary to read that one first to follow this story but it might help with references made about the past.**

**I want to thank the wonderful momma2fan who recently mentioned Sometimes Salvation on one of her FB groups that brought a lot of new readers to the story. Her work is amazing and should be checked out if you are not reading it already. Her story Glass is a wonderful look at the bond between women as friends as well as the bonds of relationships. **

**The renewed interest in the story and my lovely pre-reader costaltigergirl's insistence she wanted more from this group helped the wheels of creativity to spin another story.**

**Posting will be once a week on Wednesdays.**

**This story begins in June of 2013, six months after Sometimes Salvation finished off.**

**Hope you enjoy. **

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**Chapter One**

Edward's body and mind were tired but he couldn't help the sense of energy he felt walking through his front door. He always felt this way whenever he returned home to his Bella.

They have been back home in DC for four months and have fallen back into the routine of an everyday working life. Their yearlong adventure of exploring other countries and oceans both in and out of the water was now over. Edward had gone back to being an ER doctor while Bella had taken a job working at The National Museum of Natural History helping them design a new exhibit for the Sant Ocean Hall.

Edward placed his keys, wallet and phone down on the small table that sat by the entrance to their condo before he made his way to the kitchen for a bottle of beer. He leaned against the island, opened the bottle and took a drag of the cold amber liquid. It was two in the morning and the house was quiet.

Never wanting to bring the stresses of his work to his bed with Bella, he cherished these little moments to unwind.

After finishing his beer he walked towards the stairs that led him to their bedroom. Once he was at the top of the landing he heard the television playing softly and the light glow of a lamp shone in the doorway.

He quietly made his way to the door and stood there watching his wife.

Bella was sitting up in bed, a puzzle book resting on her swollen belly as she worked on it. _The Princess_ _Bride_ was playing on the TV in the background. Even though her full attention was on the book, she was quietly saying the lines from the movie in perfect sync with the actors on the screen.

The words _'drop your sword'_ softly played on her lips as she wrote down an answer in her puzzle book and he could not help the small chuckle that escaped him.

Sensing her husband's presence, Bella looked up at him with a smile on her face.

"You're home." She says with a content sigh as she places the puzzle book on the nightstand beside her.

"Why are you still up beautiful?" Edward asks as he begins stripping out of his clothes.

By the time he makes it to the bed he is only wearing his boxer briefs. He crawls into bed beside Bella kissing her softly on the lips before he leans down to kiss her belly.

"Your baby girl wanted to wish her daddy a Happy Birthday." Bella says as one hand rubs her belly and the other plays with Edward's hair. "She has been kicking around in there for the past hour."

Melanie Renee Cullen was expected to make her grand entrance into the world in late September. Edward's feeling of creating a new life that night on Christmas Island had been correct. The couple found out Bella was pregnant right before they returned back home to DC.

"That's daddy's baby girl." He said as he placed his cheek on her belly.

He was met with a soft nudge that caused Bella to giggle at the two of them.

"She is saying Happy Birthday daddy." Bella says through her giggles.

"Daddy cannot wait to hold you in his arms baby girl. Thank you for the best birthday present ever, but now it's time to go to sleep little one so mama can get some sleep too." He whispers to her before kissing Bella's belly one more time.

"When is everyone getting in?" Edward asks as he crawls back up the bed to lay his back against the head board.

His family is getting together for the weekend to celebrate his birthday.

"Dad, Sadie and Nana got to Carlisle and Esme's house late this evening, well I guess now it was yesterday evening and Alice and Jasper are going to meet us here before we go over there. They are going to stay with us for the rest of the weekend."

"And what time do we have to be over at mom and dads?"

"We are supposed to be over there around lunch time. We have a full day of swimming and lounging around the house before we have dinner and cake and you open your presents."

"I don't need any presents." He says as he leans forward and kisses her belly one more time. "I have all the presents I need right here."

"Don't you want your present from me?" Bella asks with a husky whisper to her voice as Edward moves back up to her head.

"Always." He whispers before he cups her face, his lips meeting hers.

He pulls her towards him as he lays back onto the bed, their mouths opening, their tongues meeting in a soft dance.

"Hmm, you taste like beer." Bella says, licking her lips as they part for a breath.

"I like it better when I taste like you." Edward says as he sits up, pulling Bella's nightgown up over her body, before he begins drinking in the taste of his wife.

**TP**

"Something is wrong with this thing." Emmett yells as he punches harder into the air.

"Quit your bitching son and take it like a man. I'm fighting the same as you are." Katie says as she moves her arm into an upper cut.

"I'm getting my ass kicked by a granny." Emmett grumbles as he punches harder into the air. Sweat has begun to form on his forehead and is starting to roll down into his eyes.

"That's Nana my boy." Katie says as she throws her leg out to the side. "Gotcha!" She says as she stands up straight.

Emmett looks at his avatar on the screen that is down for the count. The referee avatar is patting the mat as he counts to ten.

"Get up you worthless piece of shit." Emmett yells as he moves his body hoping the movement will cause the Kinect to raise his player up.

"Eight, Nine, Ten!" Katie counts along with the game. "I win baby!" She says dancing around the family room. Her movement causes her own avatar to do the same on the big screen TV that is in front of the two of them.

"I am the Fighters Uncaged champion baby. Suck on those balls my boy!" She says as she points in Emmett's direction.

"There is something wrong with this device." He says as he picks up the Kinect box and shakes it.

"There is nothing wrong with it buddy; I just kicked your ass." Katie says as she dances around some more.

"I want a rematch!" Emmett yells.

"Damn it Emmett do you have to be so loud." Rose says as she comes into the family room where Emmett and Katie are playing games. "I swear if you wake Davis up from his nap you will be on diaper duty for the next three years. Nana beat your ass, get over it, she's done it before and she will do it again." She says as she walks back out of the room to go and check on their three month old son who is napping in the nursery room down the hall that Esme and Carlisle had designed in one of the downstairs guest rooms.

"Still say the game is messed up." Emmett mumbles under his breath.

"Come on my silly boy, you know you still love me." Katie says as she walks over to him and wraps her tiny frame around him in a hug.

"Of course I love you Nana, no one makes me laugh like you do." Emmett says as he picks her up and twirls her around.

"Now on to round two." He says as he puts her back down on the ground and restarts the game.

**TP**

"Where did we go wrong with that one?" Carlisle says as he watches Emmett and Katie from the kitchen where he, Esme, Charlie and Sadie are sitting.

"There's no we my dear, that one is all yours." Esme says with a shake of her head.

"That's my boy." She proudly says as she points out the window to where Edward is laying on a lounge chair, Bella laying up against him. His hand is on her belly rubbing it softly while the two of them talk with Jasper and Alice.

"I swear I did all the right things with him. It must be Katie's influence." Carlisle says with a look of mock disgust. "My son was never like that until she came into his life."

"I heard that." Katie calls out from the other side of the room.

"Shit." Carlisle whisper hisses.

"Ma's gonna kick your ass now you know that right?" Charlie says with a laugh.

"Nope, worse than that, no more chocolate silk pie for you Carlisle." Katie calls out once again.

"Katie you know I think you are the most beautiful, sweet, amazing woman in the world right?" Carlisle says as he gets up from his chair and walks into the family room to kiss her ass some more.

"Like I said, Em is his father's son." Esme says as she shakes her head once again.

"Katie's pies are worthy of a little kiss ass." Sadie says with a grin.

"So true." Esme says. "So you set a wedding date?" She asks Sadie and Charlie.

"We did, October 26th." Charlie answers her.

"Charlie wants little Melanie in the wedding so we decided to wait until after she was born."

"I missed out on all those baby moments with Bella and I don't want to miss any of them with Melanie, including having her be a part of our wedding."

"That's so sweet." Esme says with tears forming in her eyes.

"I thought so too." Sadie agrees as she wipes her own away.

Charlie begins to fidget in his chair, trying to look at anything but the two women who are beaming at him with watery eyes. He can feel his skin heating up from a blush.

"Look at that Esme, we embarrassed him. My big, bad, mean FBI man gets all soft and sweet when it comes to his granddaughter." Sadie says as she reaches over and tickles his side.

"I'm...(cough)...going to go see if Carlisle needs any help with Ma." He says as he quickly gets up from his chair.

"Come on Charlie we really do think it's sweet." Esme says while trying to hold back her laughs.

"Nothing wrong with being all goofy over my grandbaby." Charlie mumbles under his breath as he stomps out of the room like a little kid.

His actions cause Sadie and Esme to let out the laughs they had been trying to hold back.

**TP**

"I think we finally found the perfect house." Alice says as she takes a sip of her iced tea. "It has a big back yard, four bedrooms, four and half baths and a huge kitchen and family room."

"That's wonderful." Bella says as she snuggles into Edward a little closer trying to get comfortable. "When will you know more?"

"We put an offer in before we came up for the weekend." Jasper says. "We should hopefully hear something back by the time we get home on Monday, fingers crossed and all that other good stuff."

"Too bad I already made my birthday wishes. Not that I would waste one on you of course." Edward says with a mocking tone of seriousness in his voice. "For Alice of course I would, but for you not so much." He adds at the end.

"Some friend you are. This is my repayment for taking a bullet for you huh?" Jasper says as he rolls the sleeve of his shirt up to show the small scar of his wound.

"Not that one again!" Alice and Edward both moan at the same time.

"Not you too baby." Jasper says looking over at his wife. "You're on my side right little one, you and little Melly there. We are like a club ya know, bullet wounds united!" He says while looking over at Bella with puppy dog eyes.

"Melly and I are staying out of this one buddy; you are on your own." She laughs.

"You wound me Bella." He says as he leans back in his chair defeated, holding his arm.

"Poor baby." Alice says as she walks over to his chair and crawls into his lap. Jasper gets a big grin on his face before he kisses his wife, pulling her back into his chest.

"It's not like you need to have any more wishes come true Edward, you have all you could ever ask for." Jasper says with a grin on his face when he finally breaks away from his kiss.

Despite their shaky beginning, Edward and Jasper have become the best of friends and love to give the other a hard time whenever they can; both of them knowing they share a brotherly love for one another.

"I am pretty damn blessed." Edward says as he kisses the top of Bella's head. "And it's not like you're wanting for anything either there my friend."

"That's true I almost have everything I want." Jasper says as he looks up at his wife.

"Almost?" Bella asks.

"Almost." Alice says with a grin on her face. "Jasper and I are trying to have a baby."

"Oh Alice that is so wonderful and if I could get up right now I would give you a big hug." Bella says as she tries to get up from her prone position.

"Stay still mama." Alice says as she stands up and walks over to her best friend, leaning in and giving her a hug. "We should have started sooner Jasper, maybe then Bella and I would be pregnant together." She says as she sits back down on his lap. "Oh well maybe next time." She says with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Next time? Let me get through this time first Alice." Bella says with a laugh as she nestles back into Edward's embrace.

**TP**

Edward stands outside of Oscar's deli the following Wednesday waiting for Bella to arrive. Once a week they met Sam and his wife Rebecca here for lunch.

"There's my girls." Edward whispers to himself as he goes to meet his wife.

"Hey baby, how are you doing?" He asks as he pulls her into his arms.

"Ok." Bella says with a sigh. "Melly's really active today. She keeps kicking me in the ribs."

"Settle down baby girl." Edward says as he places his hand on Bella's belly. At his touch Melanie calms down a bit.

"Sam and Rebecca already have a table inside." Edward says as he walks them toward the deli, his hand never leaving her belly.

"Bella you look so beautiful." Rebecca says as she stands up from the table they are sitting at to greet Bella with a hug.

"Wish I could say I felt that way." Bella says as she hugs her friend back.

"Nonsense darling, as clichéd as it sounds you are glowing." Sam says as he leans over his wife and kisses Bella on the cheek.

"Thank you Sam." Bella says as she sits down in the chair that Edward has pulled out for her. "I'm starving!" She says as she picks up the menu that is laid down in front of her.

The two couples spend the next hour talking about everything and nothing at the same time, just enjoying each other's company as they always do.

When it's time for each of them to get back to work, they stand, the girls once again hugging.

Just as they are pulling apart a scream from behind causes them to pull apart quickly. The four of them look back towards the kitchen where the scream was heard. Seconds later four masked men, each one of them carrying semi-automatic guns, come rushing into the small diner.

Edward and Sam instantly pull their wives behind them as they try to assess the situation.

The men rush over to the table they were sitting at, one of them grabbing Edward before he can react and pulling him away from Bella. He is shoved into the arms of another man who begins to pull his hands behind his back as if to cuff him while the first one holds him back from escaping.

Another gunman grabs Bella and begins to pull her towards the back. Sam moves to stop him when he is hit over the head by the fourth gunman, knocking him out.

"Bella no!" Edward screams as he tries to get free from the men who are holding him. "Leave her alone damn it!" Edward yells again.

Bella tries to break free from the gunman's grasp calling out Edward's name as she struggles. She manages to jab her elbow into his gut causing him to let go of her as the air is knocked out of him.

"Puta!" He moans before he reaches over and knocks Bella across the face, knocking her down on the ground in the process.

"Bella no!" Edward screams as he turns on the man holding him and punches him in the face. The man who was holding him in the front moved over to the man who attacked Bella which allows Edward to get free. He is almost to her when he is grabbed from behind and feels a sharp prick in his shoulder. His vision quickly begins to fade. Falling to his knees, Edward tries his best to stay conscious.

"No!" The fourth gun man says as he rushes over to the man who is about to kick Bella. "She was not to be touched." He says in a thick accent before he shoots the man in the head.

"Just him." He says to the other two men while pointing at Edward. He leans down to check Bella's pulse, before he stands back up.

"Estupido!" He says as he kicks the man he shot just moments before.

Edward feels himself being lifted by two sets of arms. He cannot move any part of his body, his head falling to the side as he desperately tries to stay awake.

The men carry him towards the kitchen as the fourth man silently waves his gun over the crowd in warning, all the while walking backwards towards the kitchen.

"Bella." Edward manages to rasp out before his mind shuts down.

The last image he sees is of Bella lying on the ground, not moving, before blackness takes over.

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**Yeah I know, but it had to start out with a bang right?**

**Much love my dears and thanks for reading. Would love to hear your thoughts.**


	2. Chapter 2

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling.**

**This chapter is a bit angsty but I believe it to be so in a realistic way given the story line. Hope you don't mind.**

**My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings and my heart is filled with pride at the way the people there came together to help one another.**

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**Chapter Two**

"There were four gunmen sir..." Agent Greenberg began to explain to Carlisle and Emmett shortly after they arrived on scene at the deli "...they came in the back door through the kitchen entrance. There were three workers back there, all of which were bound and gagged and placed into a storage room. None of them have any physical injuries to report."

"The four men then made their way into the main dining area after the kitchen staff was out of the way. Witness statements say the men immediately made their way over to Edward and Isabella Cullen, separating them with force. This man..." the agent says pointing to the dead gunman on the floor, "...began to drag Mrs. Cullen back towards the kitchen when Sam Uley, who was dining with the Cullens and his wife Rebecca, tried to stop the man, he was then knocked unconscious by one of the gunmen. Mrs. Cullen began to fight her assailant and managed to gut check him freeing herself from him momentarily before the assailant struck Mrs. Cullen, knocking her down to the ground."

"Fucker deserved the bullet to his head." Emmett seethes, interrupting the Agent's briefing.

Carlisle pats Emmett on the shoulder trying to calm him down a bit despite his own desire to go and kick the bastard in the head. He nods briefly to the agent who continues with his report.

"One of the men holding Mr. Cullen went after the man who struck Mrs. Cullen, allowing Mr. Cullen to get free and strike the other gunman who was holding him. Before Mr. Cullen was able to get to his wife, the man he had just struck appears to have injected something into Mr. Cullen's shoulder immediately rendering him immobile. As he fell to his knees that same man came over to the gunman who had struck Mrs. Cullen, yelled at him and then shot him point blank in the head."

"Were the witnesses able to hear what the man said before he pulled the trigger?" Carlisle asked in a shaky voice.

The thinly veiled mask of professionalism that he was holding onto was slipping further and further away the more he heard about what had happened to his son and daughter-in-law.

"They reported him as saying _'She's not to be touched.'_ before pulling the trigger."

Carlisle and Emmett both looked at each other briefly before giving their attention back to the agent.

"Once the gunman was down the trigger man pointed to Mr. Cullen and said _'just him'_. The two other men picked up Mr. Cullen and carried him towards the back entrance of the building."

"That's it? They didn't say or do anything else?" Carlisle asks.

"The only other thing said was the gunman who shot this one. After bending down to check Mrs. Cullen's pulse he said _'estupido'_ before he kicked the dead man and then left with the other men."

"So they were of Hispanic descendent?" Emmett asks.

"From what the witnesses have said about the man's accent and his words that is what we have gathered. There is also the fact the dead gunman called Mrs. Cullen a _"puta"_ before he struck her."

"You sorry motherfucking piece of shit." Emmett snarls before he kicks the dead's man body, angry tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Emmett Cullen control yourself, now." Carlisle says as he pulls Emmett into his arms.

"Dad...I...Edward..." Emmett tries to get out through his tears.

"I know son. Believe me I know. You have every right to break down, to be pissed off. It is a very thin thread that is holding me together right now but I have to, _we_ have to. Both for Edward and Bella." He says as he holds his youngest son closer to him.

Emmett relishes the comforting feel of his father's embrace for a moment before he pulls himself together, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Thank you sir." He says before he turns his attention back to Agent Greenberg who has been silently watching the exchange between father and son, plans of spending the evening holding his own son in his arms all night long running through his mind.

"I'm sorry Agent Greenberg." Emmett says.

"Nothing to be sorry for Agent Cullen." The man returns before continuing on. "From what we have gathered sir, this was always about your son. The men were professional in their execution with the exception of the man who attacked your daughter-in-law and he seems to have paid the ultimate price for doing so."

"But why? Why would someone go after Edward?" Emmett asks.

"I have no idea son. Edward has no enemies."

"You don't think this has something to do with Paul McGovern or Riley Biers do you?" Emmett asks.

"It couldn't. I have both Biers and Alex Stephenson under strict watch, neither of them can so much as take a piss without me knowing about it. No this is something else, something entirely different from McGovern and all of his bullshit. I just..." Carlisle pauses for a moment before he regains his composure "...I can't for the life of me figure out what it could be."

"Has there been any other word on Bella or Sam?" Emmett asks.

"Sam had regained consciousness before they took him to the hospital for a more extensive checkup. As for Bella there has not been any word since the initial report that I was given. She was still unconscious in route to the hospital. They were able to hear Melly's heartbeat and said that it is strong. They were going to do a sonogram once Bella was awake to make sure she is truly ok and that there was no damage caused from her being knocked to the ground."

"Charlie?" Emmett asks.

"I sent a chopper to pick him up. He should be arriving at the hospital any moment now. Your mother was going to meet him there."

As Carlisle was finishing his sentence Rose walked into the room from the back office of the diner. She had been reviewing the surveillance tapes from the alley way and the main dining room. From the color of her eyes it was evident that she had been crying.

"Anything Rosie?" Emmett asks as he takes his wife into his arms trying to comfort her much the way his father had done to him moments before.

"There is nothing from the alley way camera. It appears to have been jammed as there is approximately five minutes of white noise before an empty alley way comes back onto the screen. Since the cameras inside the deli were not affected I am guessing the device they used could not penetrate a concrete wall which is what the outer building consists of. These types of devices tend to have a range of about 45 meters and therefore would block out the cameras in the back long before the vehicle arrived in the alley way. It also means it was probably attached to whatever they were driving. They must have known exactly where the cameras back there were and parked beneath it. The good thing about it possibly being attached to the vehicle is that it means whatever cameras they may have passed will have been jammed as well. I have already put a call into the DOT to have them search for any of their stoplight cameras to see if they have any interruptions and also to the police department to see if there have been any reports of disruptions to public safety cameras. I also have word into the NTSB to have them check rail, bus and the airports cameras as well." Rose says as she pulls away from her husband's arms.

"And the camera from the main dining room?" Carlisle asks.

"It shows everything." Rose whispers.

Emmett pulls her back into his embrace and lets out a troubled sigh.

Carlisle watches the two of them for a moment before he composes himself once again, whistling to get the attention of every agent or police officer in the building before he speaks.

"Ladies and gentleman it has been exactly eighty-four minutes since my son was abducted from this spot. I want every one of you to cover this place with a fine tooth comb, no detail is too small and every little thing matters. We have one goal and one goal only and that is to bring my Edward home safely."

**TP**

As soon as the chopper lands on top of the hospital, Charlie is out the side door and rushing towards the elevator that waits to take him down to the ER. As soon as the doors open he is met by a haggard looking Esme who rushes into his arms.

"How is she?" Charlie asks.

"I just got here myself. I was on my way back there when I saw you." Esme says.

"Any word on Edward?"

"No." Esme whispers trying to hold back her tears.

As they approach the triage area they hear Bella's screams coming from one of the rooms at the end of the area. The two of them rush into the room as quickly as possible and are shocked by what they see.

"Don't touch me!" Bella screams as two attendees try to strap her down to the gurney that she is laying on. "Leave me alone! Where is my husband? Edward!" She screams as she thrashes her arms and legs about trying to break free from the men holding her down.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing to my daughter?" Charlie says as he rushes over to the men and begins shoving them out of the way to get to Bella.

"Sir you need to leave this room." A young man in scrubs says to Charlie as he walks into the room. Charlie notices immediately that he is holding a syringe in his hand.

"The fuck I do, you stick my daughter with that thing and I will shove it straight into your balls. Get the hell out of here with that."

"Sir we have to sedate her so that we can make sure she and the baby are alright." The young man says.

"Not happening asshole." Charlie says as he stands in front of his daughter who is still thrashing around on the bed trying to get out of the one restraint that they managed to get around her arm.

Esme rushes over to her and grabs her face into her hands.

"Bella sweetie, please stop."

"No, don't touch me. Where's Edward? Edward!" Bella screams.

"Bella stop." Esme says with a little more force as she dodges Bella's free hand trying to smack her way out of Esme's grasp.

"Edward!" Bella calls out again.

"She needs to be sedated before she hurts herself or the baby." The young man says as he tries to push past Charlie.

"She is in shock and has no idea where she is or what is happening to her. Sedating her will not change that as she will more than likely wake in the same condition when the sedatives wear off."

"Bullshit I..."

"Listen here asshole..." Esme says as she turns her attention to the man "...I am a doctor with privileges at this hospital. Her husband is my son, Dr. Edward Cullen who was abducted in front of her. He is also a doctor here and I am sure someone that you know very well. I am going to try and get her back into the reality of where she is now and not where she was. If I am unsuccessful then and only then will I allow you sedate her, until then back the fuck off." She finishes before she turns her attention back to Bella.

"Isabella Marie Cullen, you will stop this thrashing about this very moment and you will listen to me. You are going to hurt Melanie if you do not stop. Is that what you want Bella, do you want to hurt your baby girl? " Esme asks in a very stern voice as she pulls Bella's face closer to her own and holds onto to her tightly.

Bella stills her movements, her hands going up to grasp the ones that are holding onto her face. Blinking her eyes she stares at Esme for a few seconds before she answers her.

"No." She whispers.

"That's it baby, come back to me." Esme says as she holds on to Bella for dear life.

"Esme?...What?" Bella says as her breathing begins to calm down.

"You are at the hospital sweetie. You were knocked unconscious and fell to the ground. The doctors here need to check you over and make sure both you and Melly are ok."

"Edward?" Bella asks as the tears begin to fill her eyes.

Esme looks away from Bella for a moment before she looks back into her daughter-in-laws eyes.

"We'll find him Bella. Carlisle and Emmett will not stop until Edward is home with all of us."

Movement from the other side of the bed catches Bella's eyes and she looks away to find Charlie standing there with tears in his eyes.

"Daddy." Bella says as she holds out her arms.

"I'm right here baby girl." He says as he rushes over and pulls Bella into his arms. "I got you Bella; it's going to be ok baby. I promise you we will get him back." He says as he rocks her back and forth.

Esme steps back from where she was standing and motions for one of the attendees to unhook her one restraint and to the young man with the syringe to go and bring in the ER doctor to check over Bella.

**TP**

Esme follows the young men out of the room giving Bella and Charlie a moment together before the doctors come back in to check her over. She leans her head back on the wall outside of the room as she lets everything wash over her.

"My baby boy." She whispers out before she feels herself falling. Before she reaches the ground two strong arms are around her pulling her into the only safety she has ever known.

"I got you darling. I've got you." Carlisle says as he holds on to his wife.

"Carlisle...I..." She says as she lets the emotion of it all take over and the tears fall freely.

"I know Es, I know." He says as he lets his own tears fall.

The two of them stand there in the middle of the busy ER, holding onto to each other, trying to stay afloat.

**TP**

"There she is." Dr. Wright says as she moves the wand over Bella's belly thirty minutes later. The screen fills with the moving image of Melanie, her strong heart beat filling the room as Bella, Charlie, Esme and Carlisle look on.

"Hey my little daddy's girl." Bella says as she looks at the 3-D image on the screen.

The four of them look on as Dr. Wright moves the wand around some more, pausing for a moment here and there, typing things into the computer she is working on.

"Everything looks really good Bella." She finally says after a few moments. "Her heart beat is very strong, both the amniotic sac and the placenta are in good shape and she appears to be alert and awake." She finishes with a smile.

"Thank you Dr. Wright." Bella says as she wipes tears from her eyes.

"You are the one I am more concerned about." Dr. Wright says as she wipes the gel off of Bella's belly. "Between the concussion that you suffered from the blow to your head, the shock you were in early and the stress on your heart from everything, I am putting you on bed rest for at least the next two weeks."

"But I..." Bella starts.

"There are no buts here Bella. You're blood pressure is entirely too high for my liking right now and I worry about what the stress of everything will do to your heart. While you recovered perfectly from the gunshot wound and the damage it did to your heart, there is still potential for it to become overwhelmed. I know it is unrealistic of me to ask you not to worry or over stress yourself given the circumstances you are now faced with, but Bella sweetie in order for you to deliver a healthy little Melanie you have to be healthy also."

"She will come and stay with us until Edward comes home." Esme says as she takes Bella's hand. "I'll make sure they are both ok."

"Given the fact you will be in a doctor's care I am going to go ahead and release you. It'll take a little bit to complete the paper work and then you can go home. Dr. Cullen, I am going to give you two prescriptions that you can have filled before she leaves, one is for her blood pressure and the other is for any anxiety or panic attacks if she needs help controlling them. Both are safe for her to take during pregnancy. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I want to see both of you in my office again in two weeks." Dr. Wright says before she and Esme leave the room to get Bella ready to leave.

"Promise me." Bella says breaking the silence in the room as she looks over at Carlisle.

"I promise you Bella, even if it takes my last dying breath, I will bring Edward home to his girls."

**TP**

Edward's eyes slowly flutter open.

The air around him is stale and cold, like it is being pumped in from an outside source. His head and his ears are ringing and his mouth is as dry as cotton. He is laying on something soft but cannot tell if it is a bed as everything around him is still fuzzy and dark.

As his vision comes more into focus the ringing in his ears slowly morphs into the low roar of an engine and Edward realizes he is on a plane.

"What the fuck." He mumbles to himself as he tries to clear his head and sit up. Moving his arm to lift himself he feels the cool metal of a cuff biting into his wrist.

The pain of the bite clears his mind instantly and he starts to remember what happened.

"Bella!" He begins to yell as he tries to free his hand from its restraint.

Moments later a door opens and the room is flooded with bright lights, which causes Edward to grimace his eyes closed in pain. A man carrying a tray walks in, quickly closing the door behind him.

"Trying to break free of that cuff is pointless Dr. Cullen." The man says in a thick accent. Edward immediately recognizes it from the diner.

"Where the fuck is my wife?" Edward demands as he tries to sit up again.

"Your wife is still in DC." The man says as he places the tray down on a small table, before turning on a small table lamp.

"Is she ok?" He asks remembering her lying on the ground.

"I can tell you she had a pulse when I checked. But that is all I can tell you. You need to drink that water. It will help with the pain in your head and help you regain movement to your limbs."

"Where are you taking me?" Edward asks as he takes the bottle of water. He eyes the seal on the lid to make sure it has not been broken before he opens it and drinks the water down quickly.

"You will know more once we land." The man says as he begins to walk back out of the room.

"What the fuck is going on?" Edward yells as the man opens the door to leave. "Answer me damn it." He yells again as he flings the almost empty water bottle at the man's retreating form. Water splatters over the wall as it hits the closed door.

Edward yells out in frustration one more time before falling back on the bed trying to grasp what is happening to him.

"Please God, please let my Bella and Melanie be alright. Please let me see them again." He whimpers into the dimly lit room.

* * *

**A/N**

**Thank you all so much for the initial response to this new story. I greatly appreciate it and feel nothing but love because of it and cannot wait to hear what you think next.**

**As the story line unfolds there will more than likely be cliffy endings to the chapters. I hate to do it but it is really the only way to progress the story forward at a proper pace. My apologies ahead of time.**

**Much love to you all! **


	3. Chapter 3

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling.**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

"We will be landing soon Dr. Cullen." The man who had brought Edward water says as he opens the door to the small room that he was in. Behind him is another man who is holding a semi-automatic machine gun in Edward's direction.

"We are going to move you from this room out into the main cabin into a seat. I am going to unhook your cuffed arm but will be cuffing both of your hands together after." He says as he moves over closer to Edward's arm.

"Miguel over there has a M16 pointed at your knee caps and he will not hesitate to shot them should you give me any trouble."

Edward moves his gaze over from the spot on the wall he had been staring at for the past two hours, looking the man in the face with a blank expression on his own.

"Go to hell." Edward says.

"We have been given orders not to kill you Dr. Cullen but we have been told to use force to make sure you comply. Being a man of medicine I am sure you know how badly the pain of a bullet wound will be and I am sure that you would not want to slowly bleed to death before you get a chance to be back with your wife."

"You expect me to trust you when you say that I will be going home to my wife?" Edward says as he jerks his hand away when the man takes hold of it.

"You would be foolish to do so Dr. Cullen that is true." The man says as he motions Miguel over to the bed. Miguel cocks the gun in his hand and presses it into Edward's knee. Edward flinches in pain, trying his best not to show any sign of discomfort.

The man goes to grab Edward's arm again and this time Edward does not fight him. Once he has both of Edward's hands cuffed together he motions for Miguel to leave them alone.

"It will take you a few moments to gather your balance." The man says as he slowly pulls Edward into a sitting position.

Edward feels a bit dizzy at first but after sitting there for a few moments his head stops swimming and he looks the man in the face again. With the light coming in from the main cabin of the plane he gets a really good look at his face.

"You're the one I punched." Edward says more as a statement then a question as he notices the bruising that has developed around the man's eye.

"Si." The man answers.

"I won't apologize." Edward says as the man pulls him into a standing position.

"I would think less of you if you did."

"What?" Edward asks as he tries to get his balance.

"You were trying to defend your pregnant wife from harm; I would have done the same thing if I was you." The man says.

"I failed though didn't I?" Edward says as the man begins to pull him out towards the main cabin.

The man stops and turns back to look at Edward.

"I will apologize for what happened to your wife Dr. Cullen. It was never our intention to harm her. Rico was a fool and he paid the price for being so. I assure you no further harm will come to your Isabella."

"But how can I know what harm has come to her or how she and the baby are?"

"Once we have reached our destination I will make sure to find out how your wife is doing." The man says as he looks Edward in the eyes for the first time. There is something in them that tells Edward he can trust his word on this one thing.

"Thank you..." He finally says with a pause.

"Marco." The man answers him.

"Thank you Marco." Edward says as he allows himself to be led out into the main cabin and buckled into a seat for landing.

**TP**

Twenty minutes later the small plane has landed in what looks like a deserted landing strip. Once the plane has come to a complete stop the door is opened and the stairs are folded out and onto the ground.

Marco helps Edward out of his seat and leads him carefully down the stairs. The sun is shining brightly and the temperature is very humid. It takes Edward a few moments to adjust his eyes to the bright lights but as soon as he does he sees two large black SUV's parked about a hundred feet away from the plane. Standing beside the vehicles are three men, two of which are heavily armed and a petite woman with jet black hair.

Marco leads Edward over to where the SUV's are waiting; bringing him to stop once they are standing in front of the unarmed man and the small woman.

Edward can tell from the way the man carries himself and the way in which the men around him stand close by that he is the leader of whatever entity this is that has taken him away from his family. He also notices the small woman beside him seems to be looking for someone, giving all of her attention to her task and not to the men beside her.

"Marco." The man says with a nod of his head. "Am I to assume all did not go well?" He asks as he takes in the bruising on Marco's face.

Marco looks over to the petite woman briefly before he gives his full attention back to the man.

"There were...a few complications Cristobal." Marco says.

Edwards sees a look of anger flash across the face of the man who he now knows to be Cristobal.

"Miguel, please assist Dr. Cullen into the SUV." He says before he pulls Marco over to the side.

**TP**

"What kind of complications?" Cristobal asks.

"It seems that Rico had other plans sir and he attempted to grab Isabella as well. She was able to fight him off of her by elbowing him in the stomach. He struck the young woman knocking her down on the ground unconscious. He then attempted to kick her in the stomach before I was able to stop him by putting a bullet through his head."

"Rico is dead?" The petite woman gasps beside the two men. Neither of them were aware that she had joined them.

"Si." Marco says.

"You killed him!" She yells before she lunges at Marco. "You bastard!" She says as she slaps him across the face.

"Enough Adelina!" Cristobal yells as he grabs the petite woman and pulls her away from Marco.

"Please join Dr. Cullen in the SUV Marco; I need a moment with _my wife_." He says, the last two words coming out with pure disdain.

"Si." Marco says as he turns to leave the two.

"And Marco..." Cristobal says stopping the man in his tracks. "You did the right thing." He says.

Marco nods his head before he turns to walk back towards the waiting vehicles.

"The right thing?" Adelina yells at her husband. "How is killing one of our own and protecting that woman the right thing?" She screams at him as she struggles to get out of his arms.

"She was not to be touched Adelina. You had no right to go against my wishes. I told you we would not harm her or their baby."

"I don't give a fuck about her or her baby. He took my son and my grandson away from me and he deserves to be punished for that. If you were not man enough to do that I had to enlist a _real man_ who could."

Cristobal spins his wife around to look at him before he raises his hand and strikes her across the face. The force of the blow causes her to stumble to the ground holding her hand to her cheek the whole way.

Cristobal kneels down beside his cowering wife as he pulls an Eagle out from behind his back. He fires the weapon close to her head before he shoves it into her cheek. The smell of burning flesh instantly fills his nostrils as the heated barrel burns into her skin.

Adelina screams out in pain and tries to pull away from him but he grabs her head with his other hand and holds her in place.

"You're little boy toy got what he deserved for fucking around with _my wife_ and for going against _my command_. We will do this my way Adelina and only my way. If you dare try to harm Isabella or her baby again I will not hesitate to give you a hole to match your lovers." He says before he shoves her face towards then ground, stands up and then walks away from his wife.

**TP**

"Mrs. Gutierrez will be riding in the other SUV with you Miguel." Cristobal says as he opens the door to the vehicle that Edward was placed in. He slides himself into the seat across from where Edward and Marco are seated.

"I would like to apologize to you Dr. Cullen for the harm that was inflicted upon your wife.  
It seems my own had other plans and her and her little toy have been dealt with accordingly."

"Who are you?" Edward asks.

"My name is Cristobal Gutierrez."

"Why am I here? What do you want with me?"

"It isn't what I want with you Dr. Cullen; it's what I can get for you."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Edward demands.

"You're father has something that I want Edward and I am going to use you to get it back."

**TP**

Bella was lying on her side in the bedroom she had once occupied while she was recovering from being shot, staring at the alarm clock that sat on the bedside table. It had been exactly twenty hours and eighteen minutes since Edward had been taken away from her.

She had not fallen asleep yet and she had only eaten and drunk a little at the insistence of Esme, who came to check on her every thirty minutes.

Esme would have been worried that Bella was going into a catatonic state had it not been for the soft words she was saying to her belly.

Over the past few hours, Melanie had been very active and seemed to be unsettled. Bella knew it was because she missed hearing her daddy's voice. From the first moment little Melly had begun to move around she was only ever calmed by the sound of Edward's voice and the feel of his touch on her belly.

"Daddy will come home soon baby girl." Bella whispered softly while she rubbed circles on her belly. "He loves you so much and would never leave you."

"Of course he wouldn't." Katie says as she crawls into the bed beside Bella and pulls her into his arms.

"Nana." Bella manages to choke out before she turns and nestles herself into her grandmother's loving arms.

"I got you my sweet girl." Katie says as she rubs Bella's belly. "I've got you both."

"I'm so scared." Bella cries.

"I know my sweet girl, I know. Nana's here to make it all better."

"How can any of us make it better? We don't even know where he is?" Bella says as she looks up at Katie.

Katie takes Bella's face into her hands and wipes the tears away.

"Because I have faith in your daddy and Carlisle. I have faith in Edward that he will do all he can to get back to his girls. And when they find him I will be their secret weapon to get him out of there."

"Nana you..."

"Of course I can darling, no one will suspect this sweet little ole granny of being able to do any harm. I will charm the pants off of them with my grandmotherly wiles and then I will chop their balls off and feed them to the hell hounds that I will be taking in there with me. Nobody fucks with my family and gets away with it my sweet Isabella, nobody!" Katie says.

Bella looks into Katie's eyes for a moment before she begins to laugh.

"If anyone could do that Nana it would be you." Bella says between laughs.

"That's my girl." Katie says as she cuddles Bella into her more.

"I love you Nana." Bella says as she calms down.

"I love you too my baby girl." Katie says as she begins humming to Bella while rubbing her back, slowly pulling her into much needed sleep.

**TP**

"How is she doing?" Carlisle asks as Esme comes into the home office that has been set up as a man post for all information.

"Katie finally got her to go to sleep." Esme says as she falls into the arms of her husband.

"Anything yet?" She asks as she looks around the active room.

Rose and Emmett are looking through footage the DOT has sent over trying to find the path the car took out of the city.

Charlie and Jasper are both on the phone, pacing the floor as they listen to the parities on the other end.

Sadie and Alice are watching a program that Rose has set up that is looking at all electronic devices that Edward and Bella have to see if someone was able to hack into them.

Agent Greenberg and two other agents are discussing witness statements to see if they can find any inconsistency's that might suggest someone other than the four men were involved in Edward's kidnapping.

There is a flurry of activity going on around her, but Esme cannot help but feel as if nothing is being done to bring her first born baby home to her.

"We'll find him Es." Carlisle says as if he is answering her thoughts. "I'll promise you like I promised Bella; we will find him and bring him home."

"Dad." Emmett calls out; breaking the moment Carlisle and Esme were sharing.

"What is it son?" Carlisle asks as he walks over to where his son and daughter-in-law are working. They have a bank of eight large computer screens in front of them, each of them showing a different roadway.

"There are twelve different cameras that were scrambled in the past twenty-four hours. It started yesterday morning around 8 am on I-66 coming in from Virginia." Emmett says as he types something in the computer in front of him. A map pops up on the screen seconds later.

"As you can see the scrambles follow up 66 to Constitution, over to Louisiana, over to 5th street where the deli is located. Within five minutes of Edward being taking out of the deli, that exact same pattern goes in reverse back to the same spot on I-66. As best we can tell they either changed vehicles once they entered into Virginia or the scrambling device was disabled."

"We have requested any reports for any abandoned vehicles from the Virginia state police." Rose begins as she takes over the conversation. She types something into her own computer before a list of airports appears on one of the screens in front of them.

"We have gotten reports from the FAA on all flights, especially those leaving the country in the past twenty hours from all of the major airports within an eighty mile radius. We have also run facial recognition software in all of those airports, as well as rail and bus stations to see if we could spot Edward. There has been nothing to indicate he was taken anywhere in a commercial airport, or by railway or bus. This leads us to believe he was taken either by private plan or car." She says.

"We have a bolo out to all of the state and local police with pictures of Edward." She says before pulling something else up on the screen.

"This is a list of all of the small public and private airports in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. We figure if they tried to take him out of the country it would have been more than likely at one of these smaller air strips. We have requested flight manifest from all of them. I have created a program that will match that information up with the flight tracker information the FAA has given us for all flights across the world over the past twenty-four hours to see if there is anything that does not match up." Rose says as she shows them the program she was referencing.

"I figure even if they were somehow able to keep a small airport from giving us their flight data, they would not be able to fly without having booked a plan with the FAA. If they had appeared on screen anywhere in the US without a proper flight plan filed, they would have sent fighter jets after the plane and there have been no reports of such an occurrence."

"Could they fly under radar?" Carlisle asks.

"No sir, even if they were in a small prop plane or a glider, both of which would be unlikely given the number of people they were carrying and the possible distance they were traveling, the planes would show up on radar. It would take a stealth plane to go undetected and there are no stealth planes out there for public or private use, not to mention the fact a plane that size would need a runway at least five miles long for takeoff and none of these airports have a strip that distance."

"Damn baby." Emmett mumbles as he looks on at his wife in awe.

"Good job as always Rosie." Carlisle says as he kisses Rose on the head.

"So how long..."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, but you have an urgent call from Quantico." Agent Greenburg says as he walks over to the group.

Carlisle walks over to his desk and picks up his phone, all eyes in the room on him.

"Deputy Director Cullen." Carlisle says into the receiver. "Yes of course, patch it through." He says after listening to the other person on the phone.

He picks up a remote that is on his desk and points it towards a large screen that has been placed on the wall opposite of where they are all standing.

"Yes I have the signal and the camera is on, patch the feed through." Carlisle says before he hangs up the call and walks over to the screen.

"What is it dad?" Emmett asks as he goes to stand beside him.

"There was a video call sent into the main office requesting me. The man said it was concerning Edward." Carlisle says just as the screen changes over from darkness to the image of a man.

"Good morning Deputy Director Cullen." The man on the screen greets them. "I see you have a full house this fine morning."

"Fuck!" Carlisle mumbles to himself before he gives his full attention to the man.

"What do you want Gutierrez?" Carlisle asks while trying to remain calm.

"You know damn well what I want Cullen. The question you should be asking is what are you willing to lose if you do not give me what I want."

"Do you really expect me to just give up someone when I have no proof..." Carlisle begins.

"Dad." Edward says as the camera that was on Cristobal zooms out to show Edward being held up by two men.

"Edward." Everyone in the room yells at once.

"Dad how is Bella, is she ok? Is Melanie ok?" Edward begins to yell at the screen.

"Shut him up and get him out of here." Cristobal yells to the men behind him.

"No, Edward no!" Esme yells as she rushes in front of the screen. "Bring him back to me you bastard." She yells.

"As you can see Deputy Director your son is alive and well." Cristobal says ignoring Esme and the others in the room, his attention solely on Carlisle.

"What do you want?" Carlisle asks again.

"I am a firm believer in an eye for eye or in this case a son for a grandson. "

"You cannot..."

"I can and I will Cullen. You have a week to do this in a civilized manner. After that I will come and get him myself and you will lose your Edward." Cristobal says as he cuts Carlisle off.

"If you harm him you son of a bitch I swear to you..." Emmett begins.

"I have buried a son Carlisle..." Cristobal begins ignoring Emmett's outburst. "...I doubt you want to know that kind of pain. You have one week to make that decision." He says before the screen goes black.

"No!" Esme, Emmett, Charlie and Jasper all scream at once.

"What the fuck was that dad?" Emmett yells.

* * *

**A/N:**

**So there we have a little bit of the who. Next chapter will reveal more about who Cristobal Gutierrez is and the why behind his actions.**

**Let me know what you're thinking and thank you for sharing your thoughts so far.**

**Much love to you all.**


	4. Chapter 4

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling**

**This chapter is a bit shorter but hopefully answers a lot of questions.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Rose did you get a trace on that?" Carlisle asks seconds after the screen went black and Emmett questioned him.

"I'm trying Carlisle but it keeps getting re-routed on me. They know exactly what they are doing, one second it shows a house in Wyoming, the next it's a coffee shop in Dubai. Now it's pinging in Tokyo." Rose says as she types frantically on her computer.

"Come on Rose don't let me down." Carlisle says as he moves closer to her, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"I'm going as fast as I can Carlisle." Rose says. The faster she types the more frustrated she seems to be and her eyes begin to wail up with salt.

"Damn it Rosalie if I can't trust you who can I trust."

"Watch your fucking mouth dad and leave her alone. You still haven't answered my question." Emmett says as he comes up beside his father and wife.

"I'm trying Carlisle, I swear." Rose says as she tries to type faster. "It's just moving so fast; I've never seen a program like this one before." Tears fall quickly down her cheeks onto the keyboard but she never falters in her attempts to capture the fast moving trace.

"What good do all of those years of breaking into computers do you if you cannot crack this one Rosalie, it was all a fucking waste." Carlisle says as he walks over to the computer bank that Rose is working on and begins knocking over monitors.

"That is fucking enough!" Charlie yells at Carlisle as he comes up behind him and turns him around to face him. "I'm not sure what kind of guilt you have trapped in that head of yours at the moment Carlisle Cullen but you will not attack your daughter-in-law like that when she has done nothing wrong and you will not destroy this room. Man the fuck up and deal with this shit storm properly or I will not hesitate to knock you on your ass."

Carlisle looks into his best friends eyes for a few moments, guilt, pain and anger running through him mind.

"I...I...Edward..." He stammers as he shakes his head and tries to clear his thoughts. He grabs a hold of Charlie's hands that are grasping his arms firmly, needing that life line to pull him back into sanity. He pauses for a moment, looking down before he looks at the room around him.

Emmett is holding onto a sobbing Rose who is trying in vain to follow a never ending trace. Sadie is holding Esme as she stares at the blank screen trying to will her son back into view. Alice, Jasper, Agent Greenberg and the others are looking at Carlisle and the destruction he has caused with pure disbelief that this stoic leader is crumbling like he is.

"Oh God Rosie, I am so sorry." Carlisle says as he moves out of Charlie's grasp and walks towards Rose. He stops short of embracing her when Emmett shoots him a look of pure hatred.

"I tried Carlisle. I really did." Rose sobs as she stops typing.

"Oh sweet girl I know you did. It's not your fault Rose. This is all on me, not you brilliant girl." Carlisle says as he walks over to the couch in the room, slumping down in defeat his rests his head in his hands.

"Carlisle?" Esme says as she finally looks over at her husband. "What is going on?"

"I...I messed up Es. I messed up and now our son is paying for it." Carlisle mumbles into his hands, his head never coming up to look at the others.

"Dad who is that man?" Emmett asks.

"What man?" A small voice asks from the doorway to the room.

All eyes instantly fall to Bella and Katie standing in the door way.

"Baby girl what are you doing out of bed?" Charlie asks as he walks over to his daughter and puts his arm around her shoulders.

"Jezz I don't know Charlie. It must have been the sound of Weapons of Mass Destruction going off in this room that brought her out of a much needed sleep. What in the blue fuck is going on in here?" Katie says as she looks around the room.

Bella shakes her head a little at her nana's words before she pats Charlie's arm softly.

"I'm ok daddy." She says before she moves towards Carlisle. Stopping in front of him, she takes his hands in her own.

"What's going on Carlisle?" She asks him.

Carlisle looks up into Bella's face before he lowers his eyes to the belly that protects his granddaughter. He gently lays his forehead against her belly letting out a deep sigh.

"I messed up Melly." He says as tears begin to fall from his eyes. "I messed up and they took your daddy away from you."

**TP**

"We got a lot of intelligence from the stuff we recovered from Alex Stephenson." Carlisle began as the others in the room settled into their seats to listen to his story.

"One of the things we learned was that McGovern's biggest supplier of cocaine was the Ruiz Cartel, a relatively unknown group that was based out of Torreon Mexico. That area of Mexico was notorious for the Los Zetas cartel, one of the worst in the drug wars. All of the attention of the FBI and Mexican Federales was on them so this little known group was able to slowly build a name and reputation for themselves."

"The man who contacted me is named Cristobal Gutierrez. He is the head of the Ruiz Cartel. Over the past five years he has built his cartel into one of the leading suppliers of drugs to the US and Canada. They have somehow been able to stay out of the drug wars that are going on down there and have therefore stayed off the radars for the most part. We began to investigate them in earnest in November of 2011. We worked in conjunction with the local government to get three different undercovers into the cartel. Two of them were embedded into the lower workings of the cartel, drug runners really, who were never able to gain enough trust to get anywhere close to Gutierrez. We tried on two different occasions to get bugs into the house, but they do constant sweeps for listening devices and both times that particular lead was diminished with twenty-four hours of us getting them set up." Carlisle says with a heavy sigh.

"In January of 2012 we learned of a fight in a local bar down there the landed the only son of Gutierrez in a local prison. While his father was able to get him out within four hours of his arrest, it put Benjamin on the map for us. We never knew that he had a son, as Gutierrez always made sure to hide and protect his family. As we began to look further into him we discovered he had a reputation for fast cars and women. We knew if we were ever going to get Cristobal, the best starting point was one of his weaknesses, his own son."

"We figured the best way to get to him was to tempt him if you will, so we were able get an agent in there undercover as one of the maids in the house. We knew we would need someone who not only looked Hispanic but could also speak the language fluently. It was important that this agent not only knew the words but the dialectic in which they were spoken or they would be discovered immediately. Angela Webber's name came across my desk as someone who would be perfect for this role. Her mother was Hispanic and Angela had been raised speaking both English and Spanish. She graduated at the top of her class at Quantico and was given high praises from all of her superiors as being someone who had a good head on her shoulder. We worked with Angela for a month, prepping her for the role she would be taking on and in late February of that year she was introduced to the Gutierrez household as Angelina Vargas."

"Within a week of her working there she had gained the attention of Benjamin. She began to build a friendship with the young man and she was able to feed us information that she learned from him concerning his father's business as well as drug shipments, where some of his poppy fields were and who his associates were."

"For several months she gave us amazing information and little by little we began taking their cartel apart. She checked in with me regularly and everything was going great. I was so excited about what we were doing; managing to disrupt a major cartel, that I never questioned how she was able to so readily get the information that she was giving us. I just chalked it up to her doing a great job. I...I should have questioned her." He whispers the last past.

Carlisle got up from his spot on the couch and began to pace the room, his eyes never meeting that of his family.

"Around the middle of September, Angela began calling me less and less but she had said it was because Cristobal was becoming suspicious of everyone around him and that she had to be more careful about what she did, so I didn't push the issue. It wasn't until I went a month without her checking in that I began to worry about her. I was just about to head down there myself and see what was going on when she contacted me November first."

"At first she was apprehensive about answering my questions, becoming defensive when I asked why she had been out of touch for so long. I told her I was concerned that it was becoming too much for her and I threatened to pull her from the job unless she became more responsible in her check ins and started giving us information again. She begged me to keep her on detail and I...God help me I gave into her."

Carlisle stopped his pacing and turned his attention to Bella.

"She reminded me so much of you Bella. Her demeanor was quiet but she was so strong, so intelligent and I quickly developed a soft spot for her because of that. I disregarded all protocols when it came to this case. First I let the information we were getting and the people we were bringing down from that inflate my ego and my pride. Secondly I became too emotionally invested in this agent, seeing her as a daughter and not an employee that I let her manipulate me into doing something I never should have done. I let her stay, I let her get away with not calling in, I let her..." Carlisle began but then stopped himself.

"You let her do what dad?" Emmett asks.

"I let her go another two months without any contact. By the beginning of February of this year I knew that I had to end things, I needed to pull her out of there. I knew she was alive, as surveillance that we had on the house showed she was ok but I had to get her out of there."

"I set up a raid of the house on February 18th. Six of our agents along with twenty local federales stormed the house early in the morning. A gun fight broke out between the agents and Gutierrez's men. When it was all said and done, two of our agents, six federales and all of Gutierrez's men had been killed, including Benjamin Gutierrez."

"And Angela Webber?" Esme asks.

"She was unharmed." Carlisle says with a sigh. "However we discovered that Angela was almost six months pregnant...with Benjamin's baby."

"That's what he meant when he said an eye for eye, a son for a grandson." Charlie says.

"Yes." Carlisle whispers.

"Where is she now?" Bella asks.

"She is in protective custody. Once we got her back home she told me everything. She was able to get all of the information that she had gotten because she began sleeping with Benjamin and he loved to talk about his dad's business, loved to brag about the power his father held. Over time the relationship became more then sex and developed into something romantic. Benjamin introduced Angelina to his parents as the woman he was going to marry and the two of them were secretly married in December of last year after they learned that she was pregnant. She told me she fell in love with him and was trying to figure out a way to get the three of them out of that life, back into the states and away from Cristobal's reach. That was why she begged me to give her more time."

"Cristobal knew she was pregnant?" Charlie asks.

"Yes."

"And he knew she was having a boy?"

"Yes."

"And with his only son dead and unable to carry own his last name, he wants his grandson to take his son's place as rightful heir?" Charlie asks.

"It would appear so." Carlisle says with a sigh as he stops pacing and leans against his desk.

"Has she had the baby yet?" Alice asks.

"Not yet, she is due any day now."

"And he knows this, which is why he has given you a week to turn over the baby in exchange for Edward." Emmett asks.

"Yes." Carlisle whispers.

The room is silent as Carlisle's words sink in. No one moves, not really sure what to say or do.

Esme walking across the room to stand in front of her husband breaks the stalemate in the room.

She stands there and looks at her husband, really looks at him, studies his expression of guilt, regret and remorse.

"Es I..."

His words are cut off when Esme's tiny hand connects with the side of his cheek with great force and pent up rage.

"Mom!" Emmett says as he jumps up from his seat next to Rose and goes to grab his mother.

"You fucked up Carlisle." Esme says with a calm tone in her voice.

"Yes." Carlisle whispers.

"And because of that my son was taken away from me and my daughter-in-law and grandbaby were harmed."

"Yes."

"Fix this Carlisle." Esme says.

"I will try and do everything I can..."

"No you don't understand me Carlisle; there is no try with this. You fix this now. You bring that girl to this house to provide her better protection. Then you bring my son back to me. You will not bargain a human life for another. You will protect that baby and you will bring my son home to me, home to his wife and daughter or so help me Carlisle Cullen I will leave your ass and never look back!" She says as she turns away from him and walks out of the room.

* * *

**A/N**

**While the Ruiz Cartel is a creative liberty for this story, the other information that Carlisle mentioned about the Los Zetas and Torreon Mexico are not.**

**Dying to know what you think of Carlisle's story. **

**Much love and thanks to you all.**


	5. Chapter 5

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling**

**Sorry for the later in the evening posting. Busy time at work with Mother's Day coming up.**

**I want to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mother's in the world.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

"How did I not know about this?" Emmett asks his father moments after Esme walked out of the room.

"There were very few people who did know about this. We wanted to get as much information as we could without alerting him to the possibility of us investigating him. If I learned anything from the McGovern mess it was that you have to be careful who you trust even within our agency."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" Emmett yells.

"Of course I trust you son, I trust you with my life. I was..." Carlisle begins but pauses.

"You were what dad?"

"I was trying to protect you, protect the family." Carlisle whispers.

"Great fucking job you did there Deputy Director Cullen!" Emmett yells before he storms out of the room.

Rose walks out after him, hoping she can help to calm the situation. Carlisle goes to say something to her but she just shakes her head at him and he pulls back into himself.

"Daddy can you help me up please?" Bella says breaking the silence that has now taken over the room.

"Of course I can baby girl." Charlie says as he walks over to the couch and holds out his hand to help Bella lift herself off of the couch.

Once she is up she walks over to Carlisle and pulls him into a hug. Carlisle is tense at first; shocked that Bella of all people would be showing him any kind of affection. As Bella pulls him into her more he lets his body relax and he wraps his arms around her tightly.

"I'm so sorry Bella." Carlisle whispers as he tries to hold back his tears.

"The time for apologizes is later Carlisle." Bella says as she pulls away from him before she takes his face in her hands. "You have let your emotions and your pride get in the way for too long now. Now it's time to be the man I know you can be, the professional man. Don't be his dad right now, be the Deputy Director of the FBI and bring Edward home to us. Fix this mess just like you promised you would and then you work on apologizing to your family."

Bella releases her hold on Carlisle and walks out of the room, Katie, Alice and Jasper following her shortly thereafter.

"What do I do Charlie?" Carlisle asks his best friend as he walks over to the couch and slumps down in defeat.

"You don't fuck up!" Charlie answers him.

"I've already messed so many things up."

"Yes you have." Charlie says without hesitation. "And now you have to figure out a way to fix them."

Carlisle leans forward, lowering his head in to his hands, trying to hide from the world even if for a moment.

"I get it Carlisle." Charlie says as he walks over to the couch and sits down beside Carlisle. "There was this high in bringing down not only McGovern but the Scatori family as well. That's a lot for any man to take on and then you add the possible success of taking down another large crime family and it will make even the most humble man burst with hubris. You let it become too much for you Carlisle and then you couple in the fact that girl reminded you of Bella and the fathering instincts took over it all boils down to you messing up Carlisle. It doesn't make you a bad person it just makes you a human person who did a bad thing. What you do now Carlisle, how you handle all of this, that will determine what kind of person this leaves you."

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asks as he lifts his head and looks over at Charlie.

"You can sit here and have a personal pity party for one and I can assure you it will be a party of one, or you can man the fuck up, pull your big boy boxers on and be the man I know you can be. Wallowing in misery is not going to bring Edward back. It is not going to fix things with Esme and Emmett. Getting your shit together will do those things. Bella's right, you can apologize and kick your own ass later, right now your only focus should be finding Edward and bringing him homely safely."

"You're right Charlie." Carlisle says as he rubs his hands down his face. Standing up from the couch he looks over at Agent Greenberg who has been standing there is silence the whole time.

"I need all the files on Cristobal Gutierrez brought here immediately." Carlisle says.

"Yes sir." The agent says before he leaves the room.

"Agent Matthews" Carlisle says addressing one of the other agents in the room. "Get in touch with Director Robertson over at the CIA and tell him to bring Angela Webber from the safe house she is currently in to my house here. I want her here before the end of the day."

"Sir, yes sir." The agent says as he leaves the room.

"Please go and find Rose and ask her to come back in here, I need her assistance with not only tracking Gutierrez's whereabouts but help in freezing his assets." Carlisle says as he addresses the last agent standing in the room.

"Sir." He says with a nod of his head and he makes his way out of the room.

"Good start?" Carlisle asks as he looks over at Charlie.

"Good start." Charlie says. "And Carlisle, don't worry about kicking your own ass, I'm sure Ma will be all too willing to do it for you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Carlisle says with a chuckle before he picks up the phone.

**TP**

Edward had been pacing around the room since they brought him back there hours ago. He hadn't been able to see the screen that showed his family in his dad's office for very long but the one thing he did not see had him terrified. Bella had not been in the room with the rest of the family and they had taken him away before his father could answer him as to whether or not she was ok.

"Please God, please let them be ok." Edward says as he continues to pace the room.

**TP**

His body ached from not sitting down, from the tension and fear that had taken over him. Through the window in his room he could see that night had come and gone, the sun had risen and it was now probably midmorning the next day. No one had come in to bring him any food or water, not that he would have noticed if they did. His only focus was on his worry.

Marco stood in the doorway holding a tray of food, watching Edward pacing back and forth, mumbling something to himself the whole time.

"She was released from the hospital with a mild concussion and elevated blood pressure." Marco says as his words break Edward out of his trance.

"She was put on bed rest and released into the care of your mother. Your daughter was unharmed and is in perfect health." He continues on as he carries the tray over to the small table that sits beside the bed in the room.

"She wasn't in that room, how can you be sure." Edward asks grabbing Marco by the arm and twisting him around.

Marco winces for a quick moment before her composes himself and looks Edward straight in the eyes.

"Dr. Cullen we have had people watching you and your wife for the past month, we have people almost everywhere who can get information to us. I swear to you on the grave of my father that your wife is ok."

Edward studies his eyes, looking for any kind of untruth in them only to find none.

"Thank you." Edward whispers before he lowers himself onto the bed with a sigh.

"I apologize for you not being brought anything to eat or drink until now. Cristobal, well let's just say he is unhappy with you for speaking out yesterday."

"Like I give a fuck what makes him happy, I just wanted to know about my wife and child." Edward says as he looks up at the sound of Marco chuckling.

"I would have likely done the same thing." Marco says as he turns to leave.

"Wait." Edward says as he stands up and pulls on Marco's arm. Edward notices him wincing again in pain.

"There's blood on your shirt." Edward says as he points to a small blood stain on the shoulder of Marco's shirt.

"It's nothing." Marco says as he tries to pull away from Edward.

"It's not nothing Marco, you are clearly in pain and bleeding. Unbutton your shirt and let me have a look."

"Dr. Cullen I..."

"Just shut the fuck up and let me help you." Edward says as he begins to pull the shirt off of Marco's shoulder.

Pulling the shirt back reveals a large bandage resting on his lower shoulder. The bandage is slowly becoming soaked in red. Lifting the edge of the bandage up Edward goes instantly into doctor mode.

"You've been shot."

"Si." Marco says with a grimace as Edward begins to feel the spot surrounding the wound.

"There is no exit wound. Did they get the bullet out, and why didn't they sow this up?"

"I tried to get the bullet out but was unable too." Marco says through gritted teeth.

"You tried, what the hell Marco, you should have gone to the hospital."

"I have been shot before Dr. Cullen, this is nothing. It will heal and I will be fine."

"Bullshit Marco. I can already see signs of an infection closing in not to mention the amount of blood that you are losing. I need to get that bullet out, treat the area around the wound and stich you up."

"That won't be..."

"Quit being so fucking stubborn and let me help you." Edward says interrupting Marco.

"Si." Marco says with a nod of his head before he heads to the door. Opening the door up he sticks his head out, looking both ways down the hall, before looking back towards Edward and pulling his head back to let Edward know to follow him.

They move in silence down the hall until they reach a closed door. Marco pulls a key out of his pocket and unlocks the door, opening it wide for Edward to step in. Edward looks around the room which resembles a doctor's exam room.

"Everything you should need is in that cabinet." Marco says as he closes the door and locks it from the inside.

"Have a seat." Edward says as he makes his way over to the cabinet.

"What happened?" Edward asks as he begins pulling the items he will need out.

"Someone shot at me as I was getting into my car this morning. Lucky for me they were a lousy shot."

"Looks to me like it was a direct hit." Edward says as he pushes on the skin around the bullet hole trying to find the object.

"They were aiming for my head." Marco says as he grits his teeth trying to fight the pain.

"I only have something to numb this a little unfortunately." Edward says as he places the numbing agent around the wound.

Marco shakes his head silently as Edward begins to dig the bullet out of his shoulder.

"Do you know who was shooting at you?" Edward asks trying to distract Marco from the pain.

"I cannot be a hundred percent...fuck that hurts..." Marco grumbles before continuing. "...but I suspect whoever it was did it on the order of Adelina."

"The wife?" Edward asks.

"Si."

"Why would she put a hit on you?"

"The man who hurt your wife, the one who I shot, he was her lover and did what he did because she told him too."

"What the fuck, why would she do that?" Edward asks as he pulls the bullet from Marcos shoulder.

"Because she is a bitch as you would say and wanted to do things her way." Marco says as he lets out the breath he was holding while Edward removed the object.

"This is going to sting, but I need to clean the wound before stitching it up." Edward says as he pours peroxide onto the wound.

"El hijo de puta!" Marco yells out as the liquid burns into his wound.

"You can say that again." Edward says as he tries to hide the chuckle that wants to escape him.

"I take it their marriage is not one of love." Edward says as he watches the bubbles on the wound begin to slowly dissolve.

"No love, arranged marriage between their fathers. They have hated each other since the day they first married. It was no surprise to anyone that Benjamin was their only child. It was pure luck that she sired a male to carry on the name."

"Which is why Gutierrez is doing this, to claim his next heir so to speak?" Edward says with a sigh.

"Si." Marco answers him.

The two stay quiet as Edward takes needle and thread and begins to stitch together the wound.

"Be sure to keep this clean." Edward says once he is finished breaking the silence that has filled the room.

"Why did you help me?" Marco asks as he watches Edward place a bandage over the wound.

"I'm a doctor, it's what I do."

"Bullshit." Marco says.

Edward sighs before he looks Marco in the eyes.

"Because you did what I could not, you killed the man who hurt my wife."

"Entiendo." Marco responds.

**TP**

The tension in the Cullen house the next day was almost unbearable.

Esme had not spoken to her husband since she left the room the day before nor had she acknowledged his presence. She had stayed the night before in Bella's room and left for work before the others began to stir. And even though she had told Carlisle to bring Angela to their house in order to better protect her, she wanted nothing to do with the girl either.

Carlisle's office was a lesson in silence. Rose worked on her computers, finding and freezing as many of Gutierrez's assets as she could while trying to trace his whereabouts. Emmett was going through the files that Agent Greenberg had brought over with a fine tooth comb, trying to discover anything that would help them find Edward.

Charlie and Carlisle were going over maps of the different cities that Gutierrez was known to have houses trying to see what they could do about setting up surveillance. Carlisle was sure they were missing something. He had spoken to Angela about what she knew but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something from them.

Each person worked as if there were no others in the room and it pained Carlisle to see what he had done. He wanted to scream at them all to forgive him or at least to kick his ass, but he knew that wouldn't happen, at least not yet. He knew he had to bring Edward home in order to make things right.

He could only pray that in saving Edward, he could save his family as well.

**TP**

Angela sat in the window seat of the bedroom that she had been set up in watching the rain as it trickled down the glass. She had been pretty much left on her own since her arrival at the Cullen house the night before. Other than one of the agents bringing her meals and her conversation with Carlisle she had been left with alone with her thoughts.

A soft knock on the door broke her from her from thoughts and after telling the knocker to come in she was shocked to see Bella standing there with a tray full of food.

"May I come in?" Bella asks.

"Please do." Angela answers her as she takes in the dark circles under Bella's eyes.

Bella walked over to the small desk that sat in the room and laid the tray down before she turned to look at Angela. The two women stood there in silence for a few moments, each taking the other in, sizing them up in a way.

"Do you know what you are having?" Angela finally asks.

"A girl." Bella answers her as she rubs her belly.

"How far along are you?"

"Almost seven months."

"This little guy should hopefully be here any day now." Angela says with a smile as she rubs her own belly.

"That's why you are here." Bella says.

The smile on Angela's face quickly fades away.

"Did Carlisle bring me here to take him away from me?" She asks.

"Are you serious?" Bella asks, her voice rising in anger.

"It's the only way he'll get his son back, an exchange right?"

"Did your time undercover mess you up that badly or are you really dumber than a bag of damn it? Of course Carlisle did not bring you here to take your son away from you. My family is not in the business of trading lives. He brought you here to protect you and your son, to prevent Gutierrez from trying to kill you."

"I...I don't know what to think anymore." Angela says as tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

"It's seems to me like you haven't been thinking for a while now."

"I guess it would seem that way to someone on the outside."

"It should have seemed that way to someone on the inside as well. Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Why did you sleep with his son to get information?"

"I wanted to impress Carlisle and the others, they had given me such a tremendous opportunity and I didn't want to mess it up. Benjamin was giving me all kinds of attention and I knew I could use that to my benefit."

"So you whored yourself out and still managed to mess things up?"

"I fell in love with him." Angela whispers as she wipes her cheeks.

"Did you ever stop to think about how many lives you could be screwing up?" Bella asks.

"No."

"Did you ever stop to think about what this would do to your son?"

"I would never do anything to hurt him." Angela snaps at Bella.

"But you have, haven't you? When you found out you were pregnant you should have gotten in touch with Carlisle and ended things then. He would have pulled you out of there and assured your safety."

"I would have lost everything if I did that. I loved Benjamin, I would have lost him and Carlisle would have fired me, I would have been left with nothing."

"You would have been left with a healthy safe baby." Bella says. "Carlisle would have made sure you were protected. But instead you wanted your cake and to eat it too. You wanted to love of the baby's father as well as the respect of your boss even though there was no way in hell you could have had both. You were selfish, still are if you honestly think the only reason Carlisle would bring you here would be to take your child away from you, to give him to the leader of a drug cartel in order to save his own son."

"I...everything is just so screwed up." Angela says.

"Yes it is. Your husband is dead and mine was taken against his will to be a bartering tool for an heir because you screwed things up. And yet you sit here in a posh house, heavily protected, staring out the window at the rain."

"That's not fair." Angela whispers.

"It's the truth."

"Carlisle made mistakes to you know. This is as much his fault as it is mine." Angela snaps at Bella.

"While you are correct that Carlisle is to blame in this as well, it all comes back to you being the root of the problem. Carlisle is doing everything he can to find his son, to make this right. You on the other hand sit here and feel sorry for yourself and assume the worst about others."

"What would you have me do, offer myself up to Cristobal?"

"No I would have you offer your knowledge up to Carlisle. If you were truly as close to Benjamin as you claimed to be, you would know more about Cristobal's life and where he might have my husband. If you truly loved Benjamin and your baby, you would do everything in your power to make up for your mistakes."

"I love them both." Angela yells as she tries to get up from her seat.

"What's going on in here?" Esme says as she comes into the room. "I heard yelling. Bella are you alright?" She continues as she walks over and puts her arm around Bella, ignoring Angela.

"I'm ok Esme." Bella answers her as she lays her head on Esme's shoulder.

"Come on dear let's leave Ms. Webber to her meal." Esme says as she turns Bella to lead her from the room.

"Mrs. Cullen I..." Angela begins.

"Don't!" Esme says in a clipped tone as she turns back to look at Angela. "Don't you dare speak to me."

"You can still do the right thing Angela." Bella says, looking back at her one last time. "Fix this not only for my family but for your son. Fix this." She says before she walks out of the room closing the door behind her.

* * *

**A/N**

"**El hijo de puta!" – **_**Mother fucker**_

"**Entiendo." - **_**I understand**_

**Sorry if those translations are not one hundred percent, I am hoping the Spanish to English translation site I used is right.**

**I love the fact there were a few of you who were surprised by Esme's reaction to Carlisle in the last chapter a few who were very happy she reacted the way she did. Would love to know what your thoughts are for Bella's actions both with Carlisle and Angela in this one.**

**Much love and thanks to you all! **


	6. Chapter 6

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling**

**I apologize for not posting last week. RL and work have been crazy and I did not have the proper time to write. I didn't want to rush the chapter so I missed a posting. Please excuse.**

**My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Oklahoma. **

* * *

**Chapter Six**

Angela was woken up the next morning to sharp pains in her side and back. She lay in bed for as long as she could before the pain became too much for her to handle. As gently as she could she rolled herself out of the bed and moved towards the door. Glancing back at the clock she realized it was only seven in the morning and she wasn't sure who would be up at that time.

Upon opening the door she could smell coffee being brewed so she made her way towards the kitchen, stopping once as the pain of a contraction swept through her.

Once she made her way into the kitchen, she saw Esme standing by the kitchen sink washing something off.

"Mrs. Cullen." Angela quietly says trying not to scare her.

Esme sighs at the sound of Angela's voice before she turns around. She knows she should not have such anger towards this young lady, but she cannot help but feel like it is all her fault her son is in danger.

"Yes Angela." Esme says as she turns and looks at the young woman.

Any anger she feels is quickly replaced when she sees the look of pain on her face.

"I think I may be in labor." Angela says.

"How far apart are the contractions?" Esme says, instantly going into doctor mode.

"They are about ten minutes..." Angela pauses her words when warm liquid falls down her legs.

"I think my water broke." Angela says in a panicked voice.

"Yes dear it did." Esme says as she walks over and takes her hand, trying to calm her down. "You go get cleaned up and changed and I'll get Carlisle up so we can take you to the hospital."

"I'm scared." Angela whispers as she tries to hold back tears.

"I know you are but there is no need to be scared. You're in good hands; Carlisle and I will be there for you." Esme says as she turns her towards the door.

"Why?" Angela asks as the tears begin to fall down her face.

Esme sighs before she pulls Angela into a hug.

"You need someone right now and I will not leave you scared and alone. We have our issues that's for sure, but I will put those aside for right now to help you bring your little boy into this world with as little worry as possible."

"Thank you Mrs. Cullen." Angela says.

"Go get cleaned up, we'll meet you back here in about twenty minutes." Esme says as she heads to Carlisle's office where she knows he has been sleeping.

**TP**

Edward lays on the small bed they have given him staring out the window. It has been four days since he was brought to this house yet it feels like he has been there for months on end. He doesn't remember ever feeling so lost.

He misses Bella's face, the way her voice dances in his head, the way her body molds into his own so perfectly. He misses her smile that makes all those around her better. He misses her laughter that he is convinced could cure all the ills of the world. He misses touching her belly, of feeling his little girl moving inside of his love at his touch.

It's all of those thoughts, all of those touches, all of those feelings that he clings to as if his life depends on them and they do. He uses them to stay strong. He uses them not to give up hope. Hope that he will see her again, that he will hold her again and that he will be there when his little Melanie comes to this world.

"Edward." Marco calls to him from the now open door way.

Edward had been so lost in his thoughts that he did not hear the heavy turn of the door lock or the creak of the door opening.

"Marco." Edward says as he clears his throat before sitting up on the bed.

"I brought you lunch." Marco says as he carries the tray over to the small table that sits beside his bed.

Edward watches his movements to see if there are any indications his gunshot wound is giving him problems. Once Marco has put the tray down, Edward notices him looking at his watch before he turns to look at Edward.

"You hanging in there?" Marco asks him as he looks back down to his watch again.

"As well as can be expected." Edward answers him. "What about you, how is your arm doing?"

"Much better thanks to you." Marco says.

"Let me take a look at it."

"It's fine Edward." Marco says.

"I'm sure it is but humor your hostage, it's the least you can do." Edward says with a quick chuckle.

Marco shakes his head at Edward's words and looks at his watch one more time.

"Si." He finally says as he places a small flat black object that Edward didn't notice he was holding under the tray down on the table.

Marco begins to unbutton his shirt and pushes the fabric down over his shoulder. Edward gently lifts the surgical tape that is holding down the bandage and gingerly touches the skin surrounding the wound.

"The skin around the point of impact is not hot anymore and there are no further signs of infection. Are you having any problems with movement of your arm?"

"It hurts to lift it too high but for the most part I have good use of it. However, I cannot lift anything with it."

"And you shouldn't. Not for at least another two or three days and then only light weight things." Edward says as he pats the tape back into place and helps Marco pull his shirt back onto his shoulder.

Marco quickly buttons the shirt up before looking at his watch one last time. He silently walks over to the table and picks up the object which Edward now sees is a small tablet. Marco quickly opens the device, taps a few keys and then hands the device to Edward before he turns to leave.

"What the..." Edward begins.

"All I can give you is five minutes." Marco says before he closes the door behind him.

**TP**

The house had been rather quiet since Carlisle and Esme left with Angela. Rose, Emmett and Charlie were working from the FBI offices while Nana and Alice had gone to do some grocery shopping. Jasper was staying at the house with Bella but he was currently in Carlisle's office going over some of the new information they had received over the past twenty fours.

Bella was sitting up in bed, her laptop lying a bit further extended out because of her belly, in her lap. She was going through all of the photos she and Edward and taken together while they were on their year long trip working for the Discovery Channel. Her face was a mixture of tears and smiles as she took her time studying each of the photos that Edward was in. Her eyes slowly caressed each inch of his face, her fingers tips traced his smile, her memories flooded with the sights and sounds of each of the places that they had been together.

Just as she was about to click onto the next picture her computer screen suddenly went black.

"What the hell." Bella says out loud to no one.

"Bella." She hears Edward calling her name.

Bella looks all around her trying to find Edward. When she doesn't see him anywhere in the room she shakes her head thinking she has lost her mind when she hears him call her name again.

She looks down onto the screen in front of her; Edward's haggard but handsome face there staring back at her.

"Edward." She whispers as her eyes fill with tears.

"Oh God baby is that really you?" Edward says as he touches the screen.

"Edward...how...oh God...I must be going crazy." Bella says as she traces her own hands over his face.

"You're not crazy beautiful, it's really me." Edward says as his eyes drink in the beauty of his wife.

"How?" Bella asks.

"I'm not sure but I think Marco had something to do with this." Edward says.

"Marco?" Bella asks.

"I'll explain it all later baby, I only have about four and half minutes left before I lose your beautiful face. How are you? How is Melly?"

"We are both ok Edward. Melly misses her daddy's voice and touch. She kicks me constantly. She is trying to find you." Bella answers him.

"God I miss you both so much." Edward says with a sigh, his own tears rolling down his face.

"Are you ok?" Bella asks him.

"I am baby; they have been decent to me so far. But don't you worry about me darling, you just take care of Melly and yourself."

"I miss you so much Edward. I'm so scared. I love you so so much."

"I miss you too my sweet girl. I love you so much and I promise I will be home to you both very soon."

"Do you know where you are Edward?"

"I..."

Just as Edward is about to answer her, he is interrupted by another voice.

"Two minutes Edward."

Edward turns away from the screen for a moment before he looks back at Bella.

"Do you know what has been getting me through all of this baby?"

"What?" Bella asks.

"I have been thinking about our first Christmas together. You remember how jubilant it was? That crabby little tree that we decorated with red crosses? When we finished, we watched _The True Colton_ _Wilder_ and drank Mardel wine. Things had been so busy for us, so much distance between us until we did that. It was like we found each other again. Do you remember that baby?"

Bella smiles brightly at Edward before she answers him.

"Yes, everything." She whispers at him.

"Thank you baby." Edward whispers back to her.

"Edward." Bella hears a voice call from behind him.

"I have to go baby."

"No Edward please." Bella begins to beg.

"I'll be back to you soon baby, please don't worry. Just remember that night and everything will be ok."

"I'll remember." Bella says as she wipes the tears from her cheeks.

"I love you sweet girl. Give my baby girl a kiss from her daddy." Edward says as he touches the screen.

"We love you too." Bella says as she brings her own hand to the screen to touch his.

They stare at each other for a few moments before the screen fades to black once again.

"No!" Bella shouts as the picture she was looking at before Edward invaded her screen comes back into view.

"Edward!" Bella yells again.

Moments later Jasper comes running into the room, a handgun raised in the air.

"Bella what's wrong? Are you ok?" He says as he rushes over to her, placing the gun on the table beside them.

"Jasper Whitlock since when do you have a gun?" Bella asks him.

"Since Charlie taught me and Edward how to shoot a few months ago."

"What the hell? When did that happen and why didn't Edward tell me?"

"Bella sweetie we can answer those questions later, right now I am more worried about you. What is the matter?"

"I need to go back to our house." Bella says as she moves the laptop off of her and tries to get out of the bed.

"What, Bella no, you are supposed to be resting." Jasper says as he tries to keep Bella from getting up.

Bella grabs the gun on the table beside them and holds it up in front of Jasper which causes him to back away from her immediately.

"You're not the only one who knows how to handle a gun Jasper. Don't fuck with me right now or I will not hesitate to shoot your ass. I love you and all but I really need to get back to my house."

"Bella." Jasper says with shock in his voice. "How?"

"Nana." Bella answers him as she manages to push herself out of the bed. "Now are you going to take me or am I going to have to shoot you in the ass?"

"Should have known." Jasper mumbles as he shakes his head. "Alright, let's go, but you are dealing with Alice and Nana when we get back."

"Piece of cake." Bella says as she hands the gun back over to Jasper.

"Why are we going to your house?" He asks as he tucks the gun into the back of his pants.

"I think I know where Edward is." Bella says as she hurries out of the room.

**TP**

"Damn it Edward, where did you put them?" Bella whispers to herself as she looks around the attic of their brownstone house.

"Bella please tell me what is going on?" Jasper says as he stands there and watches Bella franticly searching for something.

"It has to be here somewhere?" She says ignoring him.

"Bella stop." Jasper says as he gets closer to her. She was been pacing around, moving boxes and throwing stuff out of the way for the past twenty minutes.

"Isabella Cullen stop it right fucking now!" Jasper says as he walks over to her and turns her towards him by the shoulders.

"I have to find them Jasper." She says as she looks at him for the first time since they got to the house.

"What Bella, tell me what you need to find. Why do you think you know where Edward is?"

"I need to find the box with Christmas decorations. Please help me find them Jasper and I promise I'll tell you everything."

Jasper stands there for a moment looking at the young girl who he thinks of as his little sister before he sighs.

"What am I looking for?" He asks.

"It's a green plastic container that says Christmas Island on it."

The two of them part ways and search the length of the attic.

"Found it!" Jasper says as he lifts the box up and heads towards the stairs. "Let's look through this downstairs; you need to be off your feet Bella." He says as he continues his trek down.

Moments later they are sitting down in the family room. The top of the box is off and Bella begins pulling out the little ornaments she and Edward collected while they were traveling the previous year. They were the same ornaments Edward had used to have a Christmas tree decorated for the two of them when they were on Christmas Island studying crab migration.

"Yes!" Bella says as she pulls out a white cross that looks to have a coat of arms printed on the front of it.

"Red crosses. God I love you so much Edward." Bella says to herself as she slowly gets up off the couch.

"Bella where are you going?" Jasper says as he follows her.

"To the hospital, I need to see Carlisle now."

"What is going on?"

"I'll tell you everything in the car." She says as she heads out the door.

**TP**

Twenty minutes later they arrive at the hospital and head straight for the maternity ward. After hearing everything that Bella has to say, Jasper is just as anxious as Bella is to find Carlisle.

"I'm looking for Angela Webber's room." Bella says once they approach the information desk.

The nurse at the station types something into her computer, pauses for a moment before she looks up at the two of them.

"I'm sorry ma'am we do not have a patient here by that name."

"Yes you do." Bella says quickly. "I know you probably have something that says not to give out the fact she is here, but I know for a fact she is here. My father-in-law, Carlisle Cullen is the one who set it up for you to say that. I just need to see him and her both. I know they are here."

"I'm sorry ma'am but..." The nurse begins.

"Bella?" Carlisle says, interrupting the nurse as he walks over to the desk, shocked to see Bella and Jasper there.

"Oh God are you ok, you're not in labor are you?" He says as he rushes over to them.

"No I'm good, but I need to talk to both you and Angela. I know where Edward is." Bella says.

Carlisle looks at her for a moment in even more shock, before he looks around them to see who might be listening to them. Noticing a small crowd is watching them, Carlisle pulls Bella into an unused room to try and calm her down.

"Bella sweetie you need to calm down and..."

"Fuck that Carlisle; I need to talk to Angela right now." Bella says as she turns to leave the room only to be stopped by Charlie as he walks into the room.

"Baby girl what the hell are you..."

"Not now daddy, I need to see Angela, I know where Edward is and I need her to give us more information." Bella says as she tries to move around her dad.

"Hold on sweetie, tell me what's going on."

"I will tell all of you in Angela's room, please just tell me where it is."

"You need to tell her Charlie, this is important." Jasper says as he comes and stands beside Bella.

Charlie looks over at Carlisle and then back at Bella before he nods his head.

"Follow me."

The four of them leave the room in silence, walking down to the other end of the corridor. Charlie pauses outside of the door, knocking loudly.

"Come in." He hears Esme say and he pushes the door open.

"Bella what on earth are you doing here?" Esme asks as she gets up from the chair she was sitting in.

Bella walks right past her though, straight to Angela who is sitting up in the bed, holding a small bundle of blue.

"Does Gutierrez have a house in Veracruz Mexico?" She asks.

Angela's eyes go very wide at the mention of Veracruz and she pulls her baby closer to her chest.

"What...how..."

"He does doesn't he?" Bella asks.

"Bella sweetie what is going on?" Charlie asks.

"Edward is in Veracruz Mexico." Bella says as she turns to look at her dad.

"How do you know that?"

"Edward told me?"

"What?"

"How?"

"When?"

Questions come at her from around the room.

"I was in my room earlier looking at pictures of our trip last year when the screen suddenly went black. Within seconds Edward's face was on the screen."

"Edward?" Esme asks as she covers her mouth with her hand.

"Yes, it was him. I'm not sure how he did it but it was him."

"How...I mean is he alright?" Esme asks.

"He looks a little worse for wear but other than that he was ok."

"Thank God." Esme whispers as tears roll down her cheeks.

"Bella sweetie are you a hundred percent sure it was Edward, that it was a live feed." Carlisle asks.

"Yes of course, we had a conversation that wouldn't have been able to happen if it wasn't him live."

"And he told you he was in Veracruz?"

"Not in so many words but yes he did. I asked him where he was and he started to tell me when a man came into the room he was in and told him he had two minutes. Edward then told me the only thing keeping him strong was thinking about our first Christmas together decorating a crabby little tree with red crosses. Esme do you remember helping Edward get a tree for the house we were staying in on Christmas Island? He had the tree decorated for me while we were out diving with all of the ornaments we had collected in our travels. There were no red crosses but there was this one." Bella says as she holds up the white cross, handing it to Carlisle.

"The coat of arms on there is for the city of Veracruz. There is a red cross on there that is part of the cities name. It means true cross in English. He said we sat afterwards and watched the movie _The True_ _Colton Wilder_. There is no such movie but the name Colton Wilder; those are the last names of the two main characters of the film _Romancing the Stone_. There is a scene in the movie that was filmed at the Fort at San Juan de Ulua in Veracruz. Edward and I visited that fort when we were there and learned all about the history of the fort and of the film being done there. When we finished that tour we went to a restaurant called Mardel for dinner. Edward said we sat watching the film drinking Mardel wine." Bella pauses for a moment to catch her breath, before she continues on with her story.

"He said it was such a jubilant night. The reason we were in Veracruz was to do a dive and document the ARM General Miguel Negrete. It was a naval ship that was sunk off the coast of Veracruz to be used as an artificial reef. Before the Mexican Navy purchased the ship in 1967 it was an American minesweeper named the USS Jubilant." Bella says with a huge smile on her face as she finishes.

"Holy shit." Charlie and Carlisle both whisper at the same time.

"Gutierrez has a house there right?" Bella asks as she turns her attention back to a shocked Angela.

"I..."

"Look at your son Angela." Bella says as she moves closer to the bed. "That sweet little guy in your arms is your whole world now right?"

"Yes." Angela whispers as she looks down at her baby boy.

"He lost his daddy because of mistakes Angela. Please don't make my little girl lose hers because of mistakes and fears. Help bring her daddy back to her, please I am begging you, from one mother to another, I am begging you." Bella pleads.

The room is silent as they all watch Angela with baited breath. She never takes her eyes off her little joy as she sits there quietly.

"There is a house in Veracruz under the name of Bennet Favorson. The name Benjamin means favorite son in Spanish. Benjamin's grandfather gave him in house before he passed away. I didn't think Cristobal knew about the house. It was Ben's safe house. The place he could go to get away from his dad's prying eyes. It was the place we were going to go until I could work everything out with you Carlisle to bring us all back to the States safely." She says, her eyes never leaving the baby.

"Cristobal must have found out about the house, found out the name it was under and that you would never know to look there. He must not have known I was aware of the house or he would have found another place to hide Edward."

"Do you have an address?" Carlisle asks.

"Hand me my purse please." Angela asks as she finally looks up at the Cullen family.

Esme walks over to the closet in the room and retrieves Angela's purse. Once she has it beside her, Angela shifts the baby in her arms so one of her hands is free. Digging around in the bag, she pulls out a small manila envelope and holds it out to Carlisle.

"Everything you need to know about the house is in there."

* * *

**A/N**

**One step closer my dears.**

**I just love the internet and all that can be researched. Part of the fun of writing for me is researching things to add to my stories. Hope you liked Edward's clever way of letting Bella know where he is.**

**Much love to you all.**


	7. Chapter 7

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling. All mistakes are mine.**

**I'm terribly sorry about another delay.**

**I love that there were several of you who wanted to give Angela what she deserved. So much passion invested in these guys that it makes my heart smile. **

**Let's see if we can bring Edward home.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

"You bitch!" Esme screams at Angela causing the baby in her arms to startle and begin crying.

"Esme please you are upsetting my baby." Angela says as she tries to soothe the small boy.

"I see, when it comes to your baby you don't want him upset but when it comes to saving the life of someone else's baby you would just as soon hide behind a pregnant belly." Esme seethes as Carlisle holds her back.

"I stayed with you for the past five hours while you were in labor, I held you're hand and talked you through one of the most difficult and wonderful moments of any woman's life and all that time you knew you had information that could save _my_ baby. He may be a grown man but he is still _my baby_."

"Esme I'm sorry please..." Angela begins as her baby's cries grow louder.

"Don't you dare say my fucking name! I have tried to reserve any hatred I may carry for a select few people in my life and you have just sky rocketed to the top. I want you out of my house and out of my life. You are a miserable, selfish bitch and I hope for that poor little boy's sake that you grow the fuck up before you ruin his life as well!" Esme says before she storms out of the room, Bella following her shortly thereafter.

"Carlisle I..."

"Save it Angela." Carlisle says holding his hand up. "I have allowed my emotions towards you to screw too many things up and I am not going to let it happen again. You will be placed into protective custody until my son is home safely and Gutierrez is brought down. Then I can promise you I will be going to the DOJ about obstruction of justice charges against you for this. I want nothing to do with you until this is done and only then to make sure you pay for your part in this mess." Carlisle says as he turns to walk out of the room.

"What about your part in all of this!" Angela yells at him as he reaches for the door.

Carlisle pauses for a moment without looking back at her.

"I'll be paying for my part in this for the rest of my life by trying to gain my families faith back in me."

With those parting words Carlisle and Charlie exit the room, leaving Angela alone.

_**TP**_

The sound of a door slamming into the wall wakes Edward from dreams of Bella. He bolts upright only to be jerked off the bed and held up by two men.

He looks up to see a very angry Cristobal standing in front of him.

"Why must your father fuck with me?" He yells into Edward's face before he punches him in the stomach.

Edward tries to double over from the blow but the two men who are holding him keep him upright so that Cristobal can attack Edward with a series of punches to the ribs, face and stomach.

"He thinks freezing my accounts will deter me from getting what I want?" He yells as he pulls Edward's sagging head up to look him in the eyes.

"I always get what I want. I want my grandson and I swear to God I will kill both you and your father once this is all said and done. Nobody fucks with the Gutierrez legacy. _Nobody_!" He yells as he pulls his arm back to punch Edward once again.

"Stop it Cristobal." Marco yells as he comes into the room pulling him off of Edward.

"Let me go!" Cristobal yells as he pulls away from Marco who has positioned himself between Edward and him.

"You think I haven't noticed how soft you are towards this bastard. You think I haven't noticed the way you treat him like a human being and not the bait that he is." Cristobal yells.

"I have only been trying to save your ass." Marco says. "You think you are invincible Cristobal that you can take on the American government without repercussions and get what you want. I have been trying to keep you from harming him and screwing things up more than they already are."

"You use to be so loyal." Cristobal says as he watches Marco.

"I _am_ loyal to you." Marco says. "I always have been."

Cristobal stares into Marco's eyes for a few moments before he straightens his shirt out while nodding his head agreeing with Marco.

"Come let's go settle you down and regain a proper perspective of this latest development." Marco says as he turns Cristobal from the room.

"Leave him." He says to the two men holding Edward up as he reaches the door.

The two men let go of Edward, his bruised body falling limply to the floor as they walk past him and out the door.

Just before darkness overtakes him, Edward prays that Bella understood his riddle and that his father comes for him soon.

_**TP**_

"A MD-87-VIP registered in the name of Bennet Favorson left Hartwood Airport in Somerville, Virginia the day Edward was taken. It arrived in Veracruz Mexico almost four hours later that day." Rosalie says as she goes back over the flight log she has for the day Edward was abducted.

"Great work Rose." Carlisle says as he pats his daughter-in-law on the shoulder. "Emmett any luck on the house?"

"We got it." Emmett says as he pushes a few buttons on the computer in front of him. Seconds later, an image of a large hacienda style house appears on the big screen that is against the wall.

"This is an image from the 82895 satellite that Rosie had repositioned over the coordinates we were given. " Emmett says as he begins to zoom in on the image.

"How close can you get to the house Emmett?" Charlie asks as he walks over to the image on screen.

Emmett begins punching a few more keys, the image going blurry again momentarily before the clear image of the house comes back onto the screen.

"Close enough to see the entire grounds and the coverage of the house but not close enough to get inside the house."

"What about heat indicators?" Carlisle asks.

"We should have that image any second now... yes there." Emmett says as he points up to the screen.

"It looks like there are five people in the house." Emmett says as he begins to point out the red thermo images of light.

"And the surrounding grounds?" Carlisle asks.

Emmett pulls the image out a little bit to get a full scale of the compound. Several more images appear on the screen.

"It looks like we have ten total." Emmett says.

"Great work you two." Carlisle says as he turns away from the screen and begins to pace.

"From what Rose said about the flight plans it should take us roughly four hours to get there. Once we are on the ground we can do a quick perimeter scan and be inside within...

"What the hell are you talking about?" Charlie asks as he stands in front of Carlisle.

"I'm talking about going down there and getting my son back."

"And your plan is what Carlisle, jumping on a plane, taking a quick glance around and going in there with guns blazing?"

"Of course not. We can continue to monitor the situation from the air as we get closer."

"And who is we?"

"You, me and Emmett." Carlisle says.

"Damn it Carlisle stop and listen to yourself for a moment."

"I don't have time to listen Charlie; I need to get my son back."

"Not with a half ass plan you don't. No offense Carlisle, but your track record with those types of missions isn't exactly great."

"I have to go and get him out of there Charlie before Gutierrez kills him."

"You can't do this alone Carlisle. We need more information, more people and a plan. This will only blow up in your face if it is not done right and I will not stand by and allow that to happen. I love Edward as if he were my own and I will do whatever I have to do in order to bring him back to my girls, but not like this Carlisle, not this way."

"Please listen to him Dad." Emmett says as he walks over to where the two men are standing. "We can't screw this up, we can't...we can't let emotion be the deciding factor in how this is done. We need help."

Carlisle looks at the pleading face of his younger son, his own mind warring being emotion and reason.

"Your right Emmett." Carlisle says as he pulls him into a hug. Emmett tenses up for just a second before he allows himself to relax and be held by the man who has disappointed him so badly in the past few days.

"We need help." Carlisle says with a sigh.

_**TP**_

"Yes Sir Mr. President."

Carlisle looks up from the phone conversation he is having when he hears the sound of the bedroom door opening. He is surprised to see Esme standing there watching him. It has been almost six hours since the truth about the house was revealed and Carlisle has not seen her since they left the hospital.

"I completely understand sir." Carlisle says as he listens to the caller speaking he never takes his eyes off of his wife.

"That's wonderful sir, thank you again for all of your help with this matter."

"As soon as we have him securely off the ground I will call you sir." Carlisle says before telling the caller goodbye.

"What's the plan?" Esme asks as she walks over to the bed they have shared for over twenty five years and takes a seat.

"Charlie, Emmett and I will be leaving DC in an hour on a private flight to Veracruz. We are going to be meeting Seal Team Eight once we land in Mexico. They have a Stealth Copter that will take all of us to the houses location. Emmett and the team will go into the house to rescue Edward, while Charlie and I handle communications and surveillance from the copter."

"Are you a hundred percent sure that Edward is even at that house." Esme asks while she looks down at the comforter she is sitting on, picking away at invisible items.

"We are ninety-nine percent sure. With the help of the President we were able to get a closer satellite feed of the house and we have been able to identify all of the thermo images we got from the house. All but one, one that has not left the location that it was originally spotted in over five hours ago. We suspect that image to be Edward, held in a room. We were able to get a floor plan of the house and have mapped out a direct route for the team to get to that room."

"What if Edward is in need of medical assistance."

"One of the seal members is also a medic. He will be staying behind with us incase Edward or any of the other team members needs assistance." Carlisle says.

"It sounds like you have everything worked out."

"We do thanks to the President's help."

"Is he mad at you?"

"He was upset with me for not coming to him sooner."

"Why didn't you?" Esme asks as she finally looks up at her husband for the first time.

"Pride..." Carlisle starts with a sigh. "Stupidity, fear, too many other adjectives to mention."

"Carlisle I..." Esme begins before pausing her words. She lets out a sigh before getting up from the bed and walking over to where Carlisle is standing. She stands in front of him for a moment before she reaches her hand up to caress his cheek.

Carlisle leans his head into her hand, closing his eyes and enjoying the first real touch he has felt from the love of his life since she slapped him.

"I love you Carlisle. No matter what, I love you. I am just so angry with you, so hurt by all of this and so damned scared."

"Esme I..."

"No, please let me finish. I'm scared Carlisle, scared that all of the men in my life are facing terrible danger, scared that you will get there too late to save him. I'm terrified that our little Melly will never know her daddy or one of her grandfather's or her uncle. I'm...I'm so damn afraid that you will walk out of that door and I will never see you again, that our last memories together will be of angry words and hurtful actions and pain. I..." Esme says before a sob takes her words away from her.

Carlisle pulls her into his arms instantly, holding on to her for dear life.

"I love you too Esme more than words can ever say. I will spend the rest of my life being sorry for this mess, regretting my actions that lead to this, the pain that I have brought to this family, but I vow to you that I will also spend the rest of my life making it up to you if you will let me." He says as he kisses the top of her head.

Esme wraps her arms around Carlisle and holds him close to her. The two of them stand there just like that until a knock on the bedroom door interrupts them.

"Yes." Carlisle says his voice rough from held back tears.

"It's time to go dad." Emmett says as he stands in the doorway.

Esme tightens her grip on Carlisle for a moment before she begins to pull away from him. She leans up on her toes and kisses him softly on the lips.

"I love you Carlisle, please remember that." She whispers before she kisses him again. "Bring my boys home to me...all of my boys." She says before she leaves his embrace and heads towards the door.

She pauses in front of Emmett, pulling him into a hug as she whispers into his ear.

"I love you too mama." Emmett says to her before he pulls her into a tighter hug, lifting her off the ground as they embrace.

_**TP**_

Edward wakes from darkness to the feel of a wet soft cloth on his face.

"Bella." He calls out as he tries to open his eyes.

"Sorry but it's just me." Marco chuckles as he cleans the blood away from a cut on Edward's cheek.

"Where is..." Edward begins to ask.

"At a bar in town, coked out of his mind and probably banging some stripper." Marco says with a tone of disgust.

"Why aren't you with him?" Edward asks as he tries to sit up. "Fuck!" He grimaces as he feels a sharp pain across his chest.

"Broken?" Marco asks.

"Yes." Edward answers him through gritted teeth. "At least two maybe four." Edward says as he tries to add pressure to his rib cage.

"I came back as soon as I could. I only wish I could have gotten to him sooner, before he did this to you."

"Why are you doing this, you told Cristobal you were loyal to him." Edward says as he finally sits up.

"I said what had to be said to get him out of here." Marco says as he reaches back towards the bowl of water he has on the bedside table. He dips the cloth into the bowl, wringing out the excess water before handing the cloth to Edward.

"But why?"

"I...I have worked for Cristobal's family for a very long time, since I was a boy. My dad was one of his father's men and he pulled me into this life. It was what I thought I wanted, what I thought I needed to make me happy. I worked my way up in the ranks and as Cristobal came into his own, I was right there beside him. When Benjamin was born Cristobal asked me to be his Godfather and I happily accepted his request. Ben was a good kid growing up, an only child who only wanted his father's attention. Cristobal loved his son of that I am sure but he never really had time for him, it was the grown man that Cristobal wanted to be around not the young boy. So I stepped in when I could and tried to be the father figure that Ben needed. I could see the rebellion as he grew older, the way he would get into fights, sleep around and do whatever he could to piss his father off. That was how he got Cristobal's attention."

"All of that changed when he met Angelina, he became a better man, he grew up. He didn't want to be a part of his father's world anymore. He didn't want his own child to be a part of that world either. He told Cristobal that he wanted a different life that he wanted to take Angelina to the States, raise the boy there and get out of this life. Cristobal told him he would never be out of this life and that no matter where he went he would find them and bring them back here. Ben and his son were the continuation of the Gutierrez name and legacy and he wasn't willing to let that go."

Marco sighed as he stood up from the bed and walked over to the tiny window that looked out onto the courtyard.

"When your father had his people come in and get Angelina and Ben was killed the Gutierrez name was on the verge of being destroyed. Adelina and Cristobal have hated each other since they were married; there was no chance of them ever having another child. Cristobal's many whores could bare all the children they wanted, but none of them would ever have that legacy name."

Marco turned to look back at Edward again.

"Cristobal became a mad man after Ben died and Angelina was taken away. He vowed to make your father pay, vowed to get his grandson back to carry on the name. I tried to talk him out of it, tried to talk some sense into him, but there was no breaking him down. I thought I could protect both of you. I should have known better. Should have known this was never going to end the way he said it would."

"What do you mean?"

"He is using coke again, something he hasn't done since he was a boy. But now he seems to need it to even function. His mind is lost; his only thoughts revenge and preserving his precious name. He has no intentions of you leaving here alive. He has no intentions of your father being alive either. Once he gets the baby, if he gets the baby you both are as good as dead."

"I have to get out of here Marco. My family...I can't..." Edward begs as he tries to get up.

"I will do everything in my power to get you back to your family Edward."

"How?"

"By doing what I should have done when Cristobal first started talking this crazy talk. By putting a bullet through his head."

_**TP**_

"We will be on the ground in two minutes Deputy Director."

"Thank you Bogwicz. Are your men ready?" Carlisle asks the Navy Seal that is sitting next to him on the helicopter that is quietly flying through the air under the cover of darkness.

"They are sir."

"And they know that if Gutierrez is found he is to be brought back alive." Carlisle asks.

"Sir yes sir." The young man says.

Moments later the copter sits down about a hundred yards from the house. The quiet blades slowly coming to a stop as the men aboard the machine begin to pull themselves from their harnesses.

"Dad there are two people in that room." Emmett says as he shows Carlisle the tablet that holds the thermo images of the inside of the house.

"We will continue to monitor it as you move into the house. We will make sure you are aware of everything before going in." Carlisle says as he watches his youngest son pull on the same equipment the Seal team is putting on as well.

"Emmett please..." Carlisle begins.

"I'll get him dad." Emmett says as he pulls his father into a hug.

"Please be careful Emmett. I love you both so much, I can't lose either one of you." Carlisle says as he hugs him back.

"I'll get him back sir." Emmett says again as he pulls out of the hug. Stepping away from his father he walks over to Charlie and pulls him into a hug.

"For our Bella and Melly." Emmett says before he pats Charlie on the back, stepping out of the embrace.

"For our family." Charlie returns.

Emmett checks his rifle and pistol before turning back to look at his father one more time. With a nod of his head he turns to follow Seal Team Eight into the dark.

_**TP**_

"We are fifty feet from the perimeter of the house." Bogwicz says into the small mouth piece he has attached to his arm.

"There are five men total outside of the room where Edward is. Two of the men are twenty feet in front of you." Charlie relays back to him as he watches the thermo images on the screen.

"Affrimative spotting." Bogwicz says. "Anderson to my left, scope ready. Jackson, Emmerson and Cullen on my six."

Bogwicz and Anderson both lower their bodies to the ground, pull their guns in front of them, flipping the scope lid open to get a good reading on the two men who are guarding the house outside.

"Do you have the target?" Bogwicz asks.

"Yes sir." Anderson replies.

"Neither are Dr. Cullen or Gutierrez correct?"

"No sir."

"You take the left, on my count of three aim and fire." Bogwicz says as he adjusts the scopes meter to measure his target.

"Good sight?" He asks the man beside him who is doing the same as him.

"Yes sir."

"On my three...one...two...three." Bogwicz says before pulling his trigger.

The faint muffled sound of the guns firing fill the air seconds before the two guards fall to the ground.

"Targets acquired and disposed." Bogwicz relays back to Charlie and Carlisle as he and Anderson stand. "Moving forward to the house."

"Follow the route to the south side. Three are in the house, two are in a room on the north side, one is in the kitchen." Charlie says as he watches the images of the men moving forward slowly.

As the team approaches they do a quick scan to see if there is anyone in the room they will be entering the house through. Bogwicz brings his hand up to signal his men to come around him to the other side of the door. He grabs the handle to the sliding glass door, first pulling slightly to see if it opens and then slowly opening it so the men can move through.

Jackson moves in first, securing the room before he signals for the other men to follow in behind him.

"We are in." Bogwicz whispers into his piece.

"We have the visual." Charlie says. "Proceed ahead; the room Edward is in is 100 feet to your left. The man in the kitchen is still there and the other two are still in the northern room."

"Anderson you go that way to take the man in the kitchen. Jackson and Emmerson you are going to go that way, 200 feet to take the other two men. Cullen and I will proceed to the target's room."

With nods from all of the men, the team splits up, each man quietly moving through the house as directed.

As Bogwicz and Emmett approach the room, Bogwicz motions for Emmett to come around him to stand on the other side of the room.

Holding his hand up to pause Emmett, he checks his watch, before he calls out to his other men.

"Two down in the dining room." Jackson replies back.

"One down in the kitchen." Anderson replies.

"Double back to the target room." Bogwicz whispers into his piece before he nods to Emmett.

Both men stand up, Bogwicz lifting his foot before he kicks it into the door with so much force that the door flies open.

The sound of the door flying open causes Marco to grab his gun and point it at the man standing there. Bogwicz raises his own gun to take out Marco when Edward sees Emmett behind him.

"Emmett wait!" Edward calls out as he tries to stand from the bed.

"Edward its ok, we got you." Emmett calls out.

"Put your gun down." Edward yells at the seal. "Not this one." Edward says as he pushes himself off the bed.

"Dr. Cullen stay where you are." Bogwicz says as he keeps his gun trained on Marco.

"Emmett please tell him not to shoot." Edward begs. "Marco lower your weapon."

Emmett rushes past Bogwicz into the room to Edward.

"Stand down." Emmett calls out as he takes Edward into his arms.

Marco and Bogwicz stare at one another for a long moment before Marco pulls his gun back down to his side.

Just as he is doing so the three other seals come into the room, guns fixed on Marco who does not raise his own weapon back up.

"Stand down." Bogwicz says as he slowly lowers his own weapon.

"Edward, thank God!" Emmett says as he holds his older brother up.

"Bella?" Edward asks him immediately.

"She's doing ok man, her and Melly both. She is the one who led us to you."

"I knew she would." Edward says as he slumps into his brother in relief.

"We have him sir." Bogwicz says into his piece.

"Thank God." Emmett hears both Carlisle and Charlie say in his ear piece at once.

"What of the other man?" Charlie asks.

"What are we doing with him?" Bogwicz asks pointing to Marco.

Edward and Emmett both look over at him before Edward speaks.

"He's coming with us."

"No Edward." Both Emmett and Marco say at once.

"He saved my life; he helped me get to Bella. If he stays here he will be killed." Edward begs to his brother.

"I cannot leave here Edward. I have to finish this." Marco says.

"Marco no." Edward says.

"I have to finish this." Marco repeats.

"But..."

"Dr. Cullen we need to get you out of here now before the others come back." Bogwicz says.

"Go Edward. I'll be ok. Go home to your wife and baby." Marco says.

Edward stands there watching Marco for a moment before he nods his head.

"Thank you." Edward says.

"Si."

"Can you make it on your own?" Emmett asks.

"I think so." Edward answers him as he tries to stand and walk on his own. He only makes it a step before he falls back into Emmett.

"I got you." Emmett says as he pulls Edward into him, shouldering the weight of his brother as he helps him from the room.

"We are moving back to base." Bogwicz says as they head back out into the darkness.

"All clear." Charlie says before he joins Carlisle outside of the helicopter.

Eight minutes later the team comes into sight. Once Carlisle spots Edward he takes off running towards his son, pulling him into a strong embrace.

"Thank you God." Carlisle says as he holds his oldest son in his arms.

Edward pulls his arms around his father and holds on for dear life.

"Thank you for coming to find me." Edward whispers into his dad's ear.

"Anything for my boys." Carlisle says.

"Sir we need to move." Bogwicz says.

Carlisle reluctantly lets Edward go. He nods to Emmett and takes Edward's other side the two men helping Edward back to the copter.

When Charlie is close enough he pulls Edward into him and breathes a sigh of relief.

"Is she really ok?" Edward asks as he holds onto Charlie.

"She's ok Edward, misses the hell out of you, but she is ok. She will be even better now."

"Thank you for looking out for her." Edward says as he pulls away from Charlie.

"Let's get you home so you can see your girls." Charlie says as the men help Edward onto the helicopter.

"My name is Jefferson, Dr. Cullen; can I have a look at your injuries sir?" The seal with medical training that stayed behind asks Edward once he is settled into a seat.

Edward nods his head yes and eases back into the chair, allowing himself to fully relax for the first time in almost a week.

While Jefferson tends to Edward the other men settle into their seats and moments later the helicopter is quietly lifting into the air and away from Edward's prison.

"Here." Emmett says as he hands Edward a tablet.

"Emmett did you get him?" Edward hears Bella's voice moments before her face appears on the screen.

"Hello beautiful." Edward says as he takes in the glory of his Bella.

"Edward." Bella says as tears roll down her face. "Esme they have him." Bella says as she turns away for a moment.

Seconds later the screen fills with the faces of both Bella and Esme.

"Oh Edward, oh thank God. Are you ok? Is everyone else ok?" Esme asks as she wipes tears from her cheeks.

"Everyone is ok mom." Edward says.

He watches as Esme breaks down and sees Rose pull her into her arms.

"Are you really ok baby?" Bella asks him.

"I'm great baby. I'm on my way home to you sweet girl."

* * *

**A/N**

**Yea he's coming home!**

**Hope you all enjoyed it. **

**Much love and appreciation.**


	8. Chapter 8

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling. All mistakes are mine.**

**I apologize for yet another delay. My schedule for writing as it used to be just doesn't seem to work for me right now. Going to revamp things and start posting on Monday's as this will work out the best I think. Hope you are all still with me.**

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

"How much longer?" Edward asks as he tries to get up from his seat again.

They had been on the plane taking them back home for two hours and Edward was overly anxious to get back to Bella to make sure she really was alright.

"Dr. Cullen I will not tell you again to sit down and be still." Navy Seal Jefferson orders him.

"Edward please listen to Jefferson." Carlisle says as he walks over to the seat Edward is still trying to get up from.

"I'm fine Dad; I'm not in any pain." Edward grumbles as he tries to get up again.

"Dr. Cullen you know as well as I do that adrenaline is preventing you from feeling pain at the moment. However I will remind you that you have four broken ribs, possibly bruised kidneys and a concussion. You need to remain calm and resting until we can get you to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment. This is your last warning." Jefferson tells Edward. "I will not hesitate to sedate you if needed."

"I'm not some fucking kid." Edward grumbles as he reluctantly sits back down in his seat.

"Then quit acting like one." Charlie says with a chuckle as he sits in the other vacant seat next to Edward.

"I just need to get to them." Edward whispers.

"I know you do son. I'm pretty damn anxious to get back to them as well, but it's not going to do you or them any good to hurt yourself any more than you already are." Charlie says.

"Are you sure they are ok Charlie, you're not hiding something from me are you?"

"We told you everything Edward. Dr. Wright is concerned about the stress of everything on both Bella's heart and her blood pressure, but Esme and Ma have been watching over her like a hawk and so far she has been doing ok. I know she will be a hundred times better now that you are home safely."

"When are we landing?" Edward asks with a sigh as he settles back into his chair.

"ETA for touch down at Langley is two hours sir." Bogwicz says from his seat. "There will be a Navy chopper that will take you to Sibley Medical for treatment, which should have you there in less than ten minutes. It's my understanding your wife will be meeting you there."

"Sibley? Why not GW?" Edward asks looking over at his father.

"We feel it will be safer for you not to be where you work." Carlisle says with a sigh. "Gutierrez is still out there Edward. I know you said Marco was going to take care of him and I hope to God that he does, but until we know for sure that Gutierrez is no longer a threat we are going to be keeping you and Bella under tight protection."

"It's like McGovern all over again isn't it? Bella will just love that." Edward says with a shake of his head.

"Her stubborn hard headed ass will have no choice in the matter." Charlie says with a half serious half joking tone in his voice.

"Good luck telling her that Charlie." Edward says as he begins to chuckle himself looking down at his watch before he relaxes into his seat.

_One hour and fifty eight minutes until my world is right again._ Edward thinks to himself.

_**TP**_

"They should be here already." Bella says as she paces the emergency room waiting area of Sibley Medical.

"Sweetie, Carlisle's text said they were ten minutes away. It's only been eight minutes." Jasper says as he tries to calm her down.

"Eight and a half." Esme, who is also pacing, says.

"Not helping things Esme." Jasper says before he turns his attention back over to Bella. "You need to calm down Bella; you are still on bed rest."

"I can't calm down Jasper. Melly is kicking up a storm. It's like she knows her daddy is coming back home. I just need to see him, hear his voice and hold his hand. I just need..." Bella stops and holds up her hand as if she is asking the room to be silent. "Do you hear that?"

"It's a helicopter." Esme whispers. "They're here." She says before she rushes over to the nurses' station.

"Where do they bring patients down from the landing pad?" Esme asks as Bella, Jasper and the rest of the family rush behind her.

"What do you mean?" The shocked nurse asks, her eyes going wide at the anxious crowd standing before her.

"When they bring patients down from the heli pad, where do they arrive in the ER?"

"Ma'am I think you all need to calm down a minute and let me..."

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down." Esme says as she slaps her hand down on the counter. "My son is on the helicopter. I need to know where they will be bringing him."

"Ma'am I need..." The nurse begins when Esme holds her hand up for the woman to stop talking. The ding of an elevator door draws her attention away from the woman in front of her.

"I don't see why I need to be on this stupid gurney." Edward complains as they wheel him out of the elevator. "I am perfectly capable of walking."

"Edward." Bella whispers as she begins to move over to where Edward is.

"Edward." She says again, louder this time, as she gets closer to him drawing his attention to her.

"Bella!" He shouts when he sees her standing there and immediately begins to lift himself off of the gurney.

"Dr. Cullen please..." The EMT who is transporting him begins to say while putting his hand on Edward to hold him down.

"Get your hands off of me, that's my wife and I need to see her." Edward says as he brushes the hand on him off and moves towards Bella.

They meet half way and fall into each other's arms.

"You're really home." Bella says as she holds on tightly to Edward.

"I am." Edward grimaces holding back a yelp from the pain in his ribs which he refuses to acknowledge so that he can hold his wife.

"I was so scared." Bella sobs as she clings to him.

"It's ok sweet girl, it's all going to be ok." Edward says as he holds his wife.

"Was that...?" Edward asks a moment later as he pulls away from Bella and looks down at her stomach.

"She knows her daddy is finally home. She is excited to hear your voice." Bella says with a smile through her tears.

Edward gingerly drops down to his knees, trying his best to ignore the pain radiating throughout his chest, wrapping his arms around Bella's waist, he kisses her belly and then rests his forehead against it.

"I'm home baby girl. Everything is going to be ok now, daddy is home." He says.

Bella leans her body down as best she can and wraps her arms around Edward's head, holding on to him for dear life.

_**TP**_

"Bella you need to go to sleep." Edward says as he holds his wife close to him.

After a great deal of arguing from doctors, Edward and Bella eventually let each other go so doctors could tend to Edward's injuries and Dr. Wright, who had been made aware of the situation, did another check up on Bella.

Hours later they now lay in a hospital bed together holding onto one another.

The ER doctor who tended to Edward's four broken ribs, bruised kidneys, four stitches and concussion admitted him overnight for observation.

Bella, who refused to leave his side for a moment, let alone for the evening had reluctantly been allowed to stay with Edward.

"I'm not tired." Bella answers him trying her best to hold back another yawn.

"Baby you can barely keep your eyes open."

"I'm afraid to fall asleep." Bella whispers.

"Afraid of what Bella?"

"Afraid of waking up and this all being a dream."

"Oh sweet girl, it is not a dream. I am really home, back in the arms of my sweet girls. Go to sleep baby. You need to sleep, need to keep your body healthy for both Melly and me."

"But..." Bella begins.

"No buts sweet girl." Edward says as he kisses the top of her head. "I promise you Bella, I will be here when you wake up. Please sweet girl for me, please get some sleep."

"For you." Bella says as she nudges herself further into Edward's uninjured side. "I love you Edward." She mumbles, moments before sleep takes her.

"Love you too Bella." Edward whispers back before he allows himself to drift into a peaceful slumber.

_**TP**_

Esme stood by the side of the hospital bed watching her babies as she thought of both Edward and Bella, sleeping soundly in each other's arms. She had been standing there for the past thirty minutes just watching them, a feeling of peace that she had not felt in almost a week slowly began taking over the fear and dread that had consumed her.

Needing to touch Edward to make sure his presence was real; she gingerly reached her hand out and smoothed a strand of hair that had fallen over his eyes away.

"Thank you God." Esme whispers as she gently strokes his hair like she did when he was a small child. "Thank you for bringing my baby boy back to me."

"Mom?"

Edward's groggy voice soothes Esme's fear even more and she looks down to see his bright green eyes staring back at her.

"Hey baby." Esme says as she continues to stroke his hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Perfect." Edward whispers as he looks over to a sleeping Bella.

Edward tries to shift his weight so that he can sit up and talk to his mother.

"No baby, don't move unless you are in pain." Esme says as she pats his shoulder encouraging him to be still. "She needs her sleep and so do you."

"How was she mom?" Edward asks.

"She was...she was Bella honey. She was stubborn and fought being on bed rest. She was determined in her conviction of getting you home and threatened to shoot Jasper in the ass if he didn't help her out. She talked to Melanie about you the whole time to reassure her that you would come home to both of them. She made sure your dad didn't give up on himself even when I had. And other than the shock she was in when she first regained consciousness at the hospital she was very strong. "

"But she didn't sleep." Edward says as he traces the purple circles under her eyes.

"Not really, no."

"None of you did." Edward says as he moves his hand to trace the same purple circles under Esme's eyes.

Esme shakes her head slightly as she takes his hand and presses her check into it.

"Are you and dad going to be ok Mom?" Edward asks.

"We will Edward, it will take a little more time for us to get back to where we were before you were taken but we will get back to that place. I was very angry with your dad, still am to a degree, but he is the love of my life, just like Bella is yours, and that is a love well worth fighting for."

_**TP**_

"Nana you did not have to go to all of this trouble for me." Edward says as he looks at the display of food that is laid out in front of him.

"It was no trouble my dear boy, besides it's just a few things." Katie says as she waves of further protest from Edward.

"Don't argue with her son, Ma always wins." Charlie whispers in his ear as he looks at the table of food before them both.

Since Edward had been taken, when Katie wasn't with Bella she was in the kitchen cooking something. Once they knew for sure that he was coming home, she began putting everything together, warming up and baking off everything that she had worked on. All of Edward's favorites had been made, both sweet and savory and were laid out buffet style for the family to enjoy.

"I count twenty five different dishes Charlie." Edward whispers back with a slight chuckle. "How did she do all of this in a few days and get it all ready in one night?"

"Ma is a superhero in the kitchen. When she sets her mind to something she goes at with gusto." Charlie says with a grin on his face before he lets out a long sigh. "It helped her keep it together while you were gone Edward. In her eyes you are her grandson and she was worried to death about you. This..." Charlie says as he waves his hand over the feast of plenty. "...is how Ma deals with stress and worry."

"All right everyone it's time to eat." Katie yells out as she returns from the kitchen at the Cullen house back into the dining room.

All of Edward and Bella's family gather into the room, standing there waiting for further instruction from Katie.

"You know I don't do formal so just grab you a plate and have at it." Katie says as she waves the crew over.

Everyone waits for Edward and Bella to go first and then one by one they fill their plates with the wonderful treats that Katie has made for them. Carlisle is the last one to go through the line and when he turns to go to the table he sees that the only empty seat is beside Esme.

He hesitates for a moment, not sure if she wants him beside her. Things have improved between the two and he knows that they will be ok in time, but he doesn't want to push his wife too soon.

"I saved a seat for you Carlisle, come sit beside me." Esme says as she holds out her hand to him.

The grin that erupts from Carlisle's face is huge and he quickly takes his seat beside his wife at the head of the table.

Once everyone is seated, Edward clears his throat, silencing the room.

"Thank you, to all of you for what you did for me, for what you did for Bella and Melanie. I love you all." Edward says as he lifts his glass of water in the air.

"To Edward." The rest of the family says as they raise their own glasses up to him.

"Welcome home baby. I love you." Bella whispers to Edward as she leans over and kisses his cheek.

"I love you too Bella, both of you." Edward says as he kisses her hand before he wraps his own around her fingers.

"Now let's eat!" Emmett says as he claps his hands together. The table erupts with laughter and just like that, a little bit of normalcy returns to Bella and Edward's life.

* * *

**A/N**

**Finally a little bit of joy and fluff for these two. Never fear though, the action is back next chapter. Still a lot of things to be dealt with.**

**Hope you all enjoyed their reunion. Thank you all for your continued support and I look forward to hearing from you.**

**Much love and chocolate mousse kisses!**


	9. Chapter 9

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling. All mistakes are mine.**

**Thank you all for your patience with me as I work out the new writing schedule.**

**The first part of this chapter goes back a little to cover some of the timespan of the last two chapters and then moves to the stories real time.**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

"What the hell happened here?" A very strung out Cristobal asked as he ran around the house the next day. "Where the hell is Cullen?" He roared.

Cristobal and three of his guards had come back to the house around noon to find the bodies of several of his men dead, no Edward and no Marco.

"Nothing has been taken or destroyed sir. Everything is as it should be." One of the men says to Cristobal says.

"As it should be?" Cristobal yells as he runs over and knocks the man down to the ground. "As it should be asshole? Are you fucking blind? Five men are dead and two are missing, the most important one of course being Dr. Edward Cullen. The bait to get my grandson back, the bait needed to carry on my name. Please enlighten me on how the hell everything is as it should be?"

"I misspoke sir what I meant..."

"I don't give a fuck what you meant. Get out of my sight. Search the grounds. They couldn't have gotten that far. Find them!" He yells as he dismisses his men and storms into his office.

"Son of a bitch!" He yells as he begins shoving things off his desk. He reaches over to a bookshelf taking items off and throwing them to the ground in a rage.

"How could you do this to me Marco?" He yells as he clears the last of the shelf off.

"You did this to yourself Cristobal." Marco says as he steps out from one of the corners of the room.

Cristobal had been in such a rage when he entered the room he did not see Marco there waiting on him.

"You will die for this, you bastard!" Cristobal yells as he reaches under his desk and pulls out the gun he has hidden there. Paying no attention to the calm stance of Marco he raises the gun and begins pulling the trigger.

Marco stands there with an amused smile on his face as he listens to the blank clicks of an empty gun coming at him in rapid succession.

"Motherfucker." Cristobal yells as he throws the empty gun at Marco who quickly dodges the propelled weapon.

There is mirth in his eyes as he watches the crazed man before him run to the wall safe looking for another weapon.

"I know all of your hiding places Cristobal. Do you really think I would sit in here waiting for your return with all of these weapons at your disposal? Unlike you I am not a stupid man who lets my emotions run me to the ground."

"Fuck you Marco. Alejandro, get in here!" Cristobal yells as he charges towards the man he once thought of as a brother.

Marco moves out of the way just as Cristobal rounds on him. Grabbing him by the arm and shoving Cristobal into the far wall.

"Did you forget this room is not only bug proof but sound proof as well? They will never hear you yelling for them." He says as he shoves his shoulder into the back of his former boss.

"This could have all been avoided Cristobal." He says into his ear as Cristobal struggles to get free. "Benjamin would still be alive today if you had just let him go. If you had just let him and Angelina go when they told you about the baby. But you, it was all about the name, always about carrying on the family name." Marco says as he punches Cristobal in the ribs causing him to double over coughing.

Marco pulls him away from the wall and shoves him onto one of the couches in the room.

"Had you just let him go, just let them go, Cullen would never have been in our lives beyond getting Angelina out of Mexico. Edward would never have been a bargaining tool for you to play with. The Americans snooping would not have moved you to destroy our business. But all of that happened Cristobal. All of that happened because you were too proud of the _Gutierrez _name, too busy worrying about carrying on the power you saw behind _that name_ to let your only son, _your only child_, be happy. You were too stupid to see that all he ever wanted from you was for you to love him, love him for the little boy he once was and the great man that he could have become."

"You don't..."

"Silence you bastard!" Marco says as he punches Cristobal in the face. "You no longer get a word on anything. You no longer get to dictate other people's lives."

Marco moves in front of Cristobal, drawing the gun he tucked behind his back and pointing it at the bleeding man slumped over on the couch.

"You entrusted me to watch over Benjamin, entrusted me to keep him safe. I loved that young man as if he were my own son. The son that I never got to have because of the life I choose to live for _you_. I was ok with that because of Benjamin, because I had him in my life. Your actions not only lost you your son but lost me the only son I will ever know. For that..." Marco pauses as he pulls back the safety on his gun, the clicking sound causing Cristobal to straighten up and look Marco in the eyes.

"...for Benjamin, you must die." He says as he pulls the trigger.

_**TP**_

The next day following the welcome home dinner for Edward, Carlisle went back to his office at the FBI headquarters. His focus was solely on finding Cristobal Gutierrez and bringing him to justice for what he had done to his family. He was determined to bring this man to his knees before he had another chance to do any additional harm to his family.

Carlisle begins his morning by bringing up the surveillance satellite they had positioned over the house in Veracruz. There was little movement inside or outside of the house so he set alarms to go off anytime a new person was detected in the property.

Turning his attention to the information they had gathered on Gutierrez, Carlisle begins trying to piece together the whereabouts of his greatest enemy.

Several hours into his searching, Charlie and Emmett both join Carlisle, each man taking a piece of information and giving it their full attention.

The main goal in the room is to make sure that both Edward and Bella are safe.

Around lunch time a knock on the door interrupts the three men as Agent Greenberg comes into the room.

"Deputy Director Cullen, we have just received word from Border Patrol of a body found on the American side in Texas."

"Yes." Carlisle urges the man who has paused his words to continue on.

"The man matches the description of Cristobal Gutierrez." Agent Greenberg says.

The room grows silent as all of the men in the room turn and look to Carlisle.

"What..." Carlisle begins before all of the emotions running in his head stop his words. Clearing his throat, Carlisle shakes his head and pulls himself together.

"ETA on a possible ID." He finally says.

"We are working with Mexican leo's to get dental records as well as finger prints and DNA to verify the identity sir."

"Thank you Agent. Please let me know as soon as you have confirmation."

"Sir." Greenberg nods his head before he leaves the room.

"Marco?" Emmett asks no one in particular.

"We can only hope." Charlie says as he moves his attention back to his previous task, trying not to let hope stop him from keeping his Bella and her Edward safe.

_**TP**_

"There was a super moon while I was away from you baby girl." Edward softly says to Bella's belly.

The two of them have stayed in bed the whole day following the welcome home dinner. They have slept off and on, talked, laughed and cried. It was a chance for them to reconnect with one another all while a part of one of their bodies is in constant contact with the other.

"I really wish that I had been there with you and mama so that we could have experienced it together." Edward says as he runs his hands over her belly, watching his daughter's foot match his movements under Bella's skin.

Bella plays with Edward's hair while he talks to their little one.

"I wish we could have gone down to Wilmington and watched it from the beach at the old Blackfoot house. Your mama was the one who introduced me to moon rises over the ocean. I always loved to watch the sunrise, was always so amazed by the colors that light up the sky as the sun peaks its way over the water's horizon. The sound of the waves surrounding you, the early morning breeze rustling around you, it was always one of my favorite moments. One of nature's greatest gifts." Edward says.

"I never gave a second thought to the moon appearing in the sky each night, never took the time to ponder or watch it as it ascended into the blue/black sky." Edward says before he lifts his head slightly and looks up at Bella.

"That was until your mama shared the beauty of a moonrise with me." He winks at Bella before he turns his gaze back to the belly protecting his daughter.

"We were about 20 miles off the coast of Hilton Head Island for one of your mama's dives. We had been in the water most of the day, exploring a manmade reef, looking for accent Megalodon teeth and chasing amberjack around the wreckage of the Liberty Ship Betsy Ross. We decided to stay out in the water on the boat a little longer as your mama had seen that it was going to be a full moon that night. We watched the color of the skies behind us shooting rays of oranges, pinks and purples as the sun set over the land. There was a stillness to the air around us, a silence that was only broken by the soft lap of waves hitting the side of the boat. The sky ahead of us was between a shade of blue and black as twilight held on. Mama tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a spot just to the left of us before she lifted her camera up and held it against her eye, ready to capture nature's grace. Moments later a soft glow of white peaked its head above the water, much the way the sun does in the morning. I was memorized instantly. I just stood there watching the huge ball slowly raising into the ever darkening sky, the man in the moon becoming clearer as each inch of the sphere ascended the sky. I could hear the click of your mama's camera as she preserved the moment in time for the world to share, but all I could think about was the amazing gift Mother Nature had given to me by allowing me to be there at the moment."

"It changed me baby girl, changed the way I viewed the moon. In that moment it became more than the beacon that pulled the tides and called the turtles to the beach to lay their eggs. It was a work of art, much like its counterpart the sun is. And the best part my sweet Melly is that I got to share that moment with your beautiful, sweet amazing mama."

"I think she's asleep finally." Bella whispers.

"Sweet dreams baby girl." Edward whispers as he leans forward and kisses Bella's belly.

"We'll share more of those moons with her won't we?" Edward asks as he moves up the bed to lie beside Bella, pulling her into his arms.

"We'll share everything with her." Bella says as she snuggles into his embrace.

Moments later they too are sleeping.

_**TP**_

A soft buzzing noise stirs Edward from his slumber. He slowly opens his eyes as the smell of Bella's hair next to his face fills his lungs as the room goes silent. Sighing quietly he pulls her tighter to him and closes his eyes again.

Seconds later the buzzing sound fills the room again, jarring Edward's eyes open suddenly. With as little movement as possible, he maneuvers his body over to grab his dancing cell phone from off the nightstand.

"Hello." Edward whispers into the line.

"It is done Edward. For Benjamin, it is done." The thick accented voice says before the line goes dead.

"Marco?" Edward asks in a louder voice that rouses Bella.

"Marco?" Edward asks again only to be answered by the dead silence of a disconnected call.

Edward pulls the phone away from his face, looking down at the screen at the unknown number on the display. Hitting redial he looks over at Bella who is watching him with concerned eyes.

The phone rings once before a recorded voice comes on the line announcing the call cannot connect as the number dialed is no longer in service.

"That can't be right." Edward mumbles to himself as he hits redial again only to be greeted with the same recording.

"What's wrong Edward?" Bella asks as she pulls herself up to a sitting position.

"I believe that was Marco." Edward says as he looks up at Bella. "He said it was done."

_**TP**_

Carlisle, Charlie, Emmett and Rose arrived at the house forty five minutes after Edward called Carlisle to tell him of the call he had received.

It had been several hours since Agent Greenberg had first told Carlisle of the body found and they had still not gotten any word as to the identity of the man found yet, however Carlisle and the other's felt they needed to get home as soon as they could.

Once there Rose set about tracing the number that the call had been placed from. The rest of the family waited in Carlisle's home office as she worked her magic.

"It's a burn phone." Rose finally says. "All I can determine is that the call came from somewhere in Mexico and that it was immediately disconnected seconds after the call with Edward ended. I'm guessing he broke the phone open, took the SIM card out and disposed of what was left of it." Rose says with a sigh.

"Are you sure it was Marco?" Carlisle asks Edward.

"It was him dad, I am positive of that." Edward answers him.

Carlisle sighs and nods his head as he pats his oldest son on the shoulder.

"I guess we will just have to..." Carlisle's words are cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing from his side.

"Deputy Director Cullen." He answers.

The room is silent as everyone watches Carlisle to see who is calling him.

"I see." Carlisle finally says after a few moments of silence as he listens to the caller. "That will be all for now. Thank you Agent Greenberg." Carlisle says as he finishes the call.

Turning his attention back to the room, Carlisle sighs.

"It has been confirmed that the body found today was that of Cristobal Gutierrez."

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**A/N**

**Would love to know what you think.**

**Much love and thanks to you all! **


	10. Chapter 10

**SM owns Twilight.**

**Story title inspired by the song Thorn in my Pride by The Black Crowes.**

**Thank you to my lovely pre-reader and friend coastaltigergirl. Love ya darling. All mistakes are mine.**

**I apologize greatly for my lack of updating and responding to reviews. This is the longest I have ever gone with a story and it bothers me greatly to be so lax. RL is busy and unfortunately creativity often takes a back seat. I will try my very best to not let another lapse such as this happen again and I will respond to reviews going forward. Thank you for your patience and all of the love that you have given this story so far. **

**Thank you lilmstran for being my 100th review. **

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

"Your pressure is 110 over 70, Bella." Dr. Wright says as she takes the blood cuff off of her. "Right where we would like it to be." She says as she pats Bella's shoulder.

"Does that mean she can come off bed rest?" Edward asks.

"Officially yes." Dr. Wright says. "All though something tells me she has not exactly been resting these past two weeks since your return." She says as she looks at Edward with a smirk.

"I plead the fifth." Bella responds in a nonchalant voice.

"Just as I thought." Dr. Wright chuckles before she moves to get the measuring tape. "Lie down for me please."

Edward helps Bella lie back, moving slightly out of the way so the other doctor can come and measure her belly growth.

"Your measurements look good as does your weight." Dr. Wright says as she takes the tape measure away from Bella's belly and moves to write down her numbers.

"Let's take a quick listen to her heartbeat and then..."

"Actually..." Edward begins "...we were hoping that maybe we could have a sonogram instead."

"Do you have concerns Edward?" Dr. Wright asks.

"No not really it's just..." Edward hesitantly says.

Dr. Wright looks on as Edward tries to convey his need to see his daughter without saying the words. With a smile of sympathy for what the couple has recently been through she nods her head at Edward.

"Of course, let me just go and get everything set up." She says before leaving the room.

"I told you she would be more than happy to do it." Bella says with a slight chuckle at the way her husband suddenly seemed like a little boy.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Edward says as he leans down and kisses his wife.

_**TP**_

"There she is." Dr. Wright says as she turns the screen for Edward and Bella to see their daughter.

"Hello my sweet Melanie." Edward says as he places his hand on the side of Bella's stomach.

As soon as Edward places his hand down, the image of Melanie on the screen begins to move around.

"Is she always so responsive to his touch?" Dr. Wright asks as she watches the little girl's hand move towards Edwards.

"From the moment I could first feel her moving around." Bella says.

"Daddy cannot wait for you to get here baby girl." Edward says as he leans forward and places a kiss on her belly, his eyes never leaving the screen before him. "Thank you for taking care of mommy while I was away and for keeping her company so she wouldn't be so sad." Edward says, his eyes closing for just a moment at the feel of Bella's hands soothing through his hair.

"I love you sweet girl." Edward says as he slowly opens his eyes back and watches his daughter's movement's flicker before him. "So very much, do I love you and mommy."

Edward watches the screen for a moment more before he stands back up, leaning over to Bella and kissing her softly on the lips.

"Thank you Dr. Wright." He says softly as he looks over at her.

"It was my pleasure." She answers him as she tries to hold back the tears that are threatening to spill over. "Would you like a few pictures?" She asks trying to regain her professional edge.

"We would, thank you." Bella answers.

_**TP**_

"So the doctor said everything was ok?" Charlie asks as he looks out Edward and Bella's kitchen window, watching his daughter and his future wife as they tend to the small garden Bella has in their back yard.

"Everything is perfect." Edwards says as he joins Charlie at the window, handing him a beer. "Dr. Wright took her off of bed rest officially. We asked for another sonogram and she let us have one. She is very active and healthy."

"Thank God for little miracles." Charlie quietly says as he watches his daughter laughing outside.

"Sadie insisted on coming over here and tending to the garden while you were away. She knew Bella would be upset to have lost anything."

"Bella is very grateful to her for doing that. She loves her little garden; she's at peace when she is out there. She was before this nightmare began but she has been even more so since we came home a few weeks ago." Edward says.

"How is she otherwise?" Charlie asks as he looks over at Edward for the first time.

"She's doing amazingly well all things considering. She dotes on me all the time, insists on taking care of me even when I don't need it. I think it's her way of making sure I am really here and that this isn't a dream." Edward says with a heavy sigh.

"How are you doing Edward?" Charlie asks.

"Physically I am great. I have been cleared to go back to work next week." Edward says as he walks over to the kitchen island and takes a seat.

"What about mentally?" Charlie asks as he joins his son in law at the island.

"I'm..." Edward starts before pausing to watch the beautiful smile that lights up Bella's eyes as she laughs at something Sadie has said.

"I'm scared Charlie." Edward finally says.

"What are you scared of?"

"Of taking her for granted, of taking the fact she is ok for granted." Edward says before he turns to look at Charlie. "Bella has been in my life for a little over two years now and in that time she has been shot and almost died, we both have been kidnapped, I have watched three different assholes pull a gun on her and seen too many bruises from her being hit and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It's...I just...one person shouldn't have to go through all that shit Charlie, but she has and so much more in her precious short life."

"Your right Edward, neither one of you should have had to have gone through any of this shit." Charlie says as he puts his hand on Edward's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "You both have been through so much and have become so much stronger because of it. You two share a love with one another that no one could ever break, you have been to hell and back together and you both still manage to get out of bed each morning, love each other and all those around you. You both still have passions, for life, for your work and most importantly for each other and for your daughter. There is no way in hell that either of you will ever take the other one for granted."

The two sit there quietly as Charlie's words settle in, both of their eyes watching the women they love outside laughing with one another.

"I think we need to get away from here for a few days." Edward says as he watches Bella and Sadie picking blackberries.

"Are you thinking about going to Wrightsville Beach?"

"No." Edward says with a sigh. "Marco told me that Cristobal had ways of tracking Bella and I, of learning our routine and coming after us that way. Hell he was able to hack into Bella's computer, knowing she was on it so I could talk to her. If they know that much about us then they know about the house in Wrightsville Beach. I know Cristobal is dead, but I still worry. His people and his wife are still out there and more than likely will still be after us."

"Where are you thinking then?"

"Bella once told me about a trip her and Renee took to Pawley's Island, South Carolina when she was fifteen. She told me about these tidal pools that litter the island after high tide and about how much fun her and Renee had exploring them. She said it was so peaceful there, not a lot of people on the beach and so much nature surrounding her. She said she found serenity there." Edward says with a small smile on his face. "I want to give her that again, even if it's only for a few days. I want to bring a little serenity back into her life."

"What about..."

"I had Rosie set everything up for me." Edward says interrupting the question he knew Charlie was about to ask. "She did her hacking voodoo thing and was able to rent us a house down there, a car here and she also hired a private security team to be down there with us."

"That girl _is _something else." Charlie says with a chuckle. "So what you're telling me is that no one will know that you are down there?"

"Just our immediate family and even then the contact will be very limited. Rosie got me a burn phone that I'll use to let you guys know that we are ok and that we will use for emergencies, God forbid one should happen. Other than that we will not be taking our cells or computers with us. Nothing electronic that will be traceable. As far as the trained or untrained eye will know we will be here in DC, holed up in our house, under FBI watch just like we have been for the past two weeks."

"And the security team?" Charlie asks.

"There will be four men down there with us, close enough to step in if needed, but not so close as to take away the purpose of the trip. They are men that Bogwicz personally recommended to us so I feel good about them being there with us."

"Does Bella know about this trip yet?"

"No, I wanted it to be a surprise to her, plus I knew that if I did tell her and Dr. Wright told us that Bella was still on bed rest there would have been hell to pay."

"I always knew you were a smart man." Charlie says as he pats Edward on the shoulder.

"I'll keep her safe Charlie. I promise you that." Edward says as he turns to look at Charlie.

"I know you will son." Charlie says with a confident nod of his head.

_**TP**_

"And this is a starfish." Edward says as he takes the five legged creature and places it on Bella's bare stomach. "But mommy tells me that marine scientists are trying to have them renamed as sea stars instead because they are not really fish. But we really like the name starfish so we are going to call them that. They have the ability to regrow their limbs if it becomes served and while most of them have five legs some of them can have up to forty."

"These five tickle enough as it is, thank goodness you didn't find one with forty." Bella giggles as she tries to stay still for the picture that Edward is taking of a starfish laying on her tummy.

"Melly's first starfish." Edward says as he takes it off of her belly and puts it back into the tidal pool that they are sitting in.

They had arrived in Pawley's Island two days before. They spent the daylight hours outside, exploring the wide open beach that transformed with each tide change, leaving behind new pools to venture into and new sea life to discover. When they were not exploring pools, they lounged under a cabana that Edward fought with both when he put it up and took it down due to the constant windy conditions of the area. They read to each other and napped in the shade with the sound of waves crashing in the distance.

Their evenings had been spent cuddled up with one another on the hammock that hung from the porch of the house they were renting, the ocean breeze taking away all of their worries, even if it was only for a moment in time.

This day they were sitting in a small group of tide pools, Bella in a small lounge chair that allowed her to be in the water and close to the ground while still getting some support from the chair. Edward was sitting in the water beside her, pulling sea creatures out and describing them to Melanie, before he placed them on Bella's tummy to take pictures.

"I still cannot believe I let you talk me into wearing a bikini." Bella says as she watches Edward reach for a sea urchin.

"Your belly is beautiful Bella. It shows the world our love and our precious gift." Edward says as he leans over and kisses said showing.

"How can you be so cheesy and so sweet and adorable at the same time?" Bella giggles as she wipes the tears that wailed up in her eyes at Edward's words.

"It's part of my charm darling." Edward says in an overly exaggerated Southern accent which only causes Bella to giggle more.

"This little guy is a sea urchin." Edward says as he takes the prickly little creature and places it gingerly on Bella. "It's not too much is it?"

"It's fine baby." Bella tells him as she watches him with a warm smile on her face.

"These guys are cousins to the starfish." Edward says as he snaps a quick picture. "They come in all different sizes and colors. Mommy always points them out to me when we dive together around reefs. They are so beautiful even though they have prickly little spikes and look like hedgehogs." Edward finishes as he takes the spiny bundle and puts it back in the water.

"Thank you for this Edward." Bella says with a sigh as she watches him search for something else to continue Melanie's lesson.

"You don't have to keep thanking me Bella. This was something we all needed." Edward says as he takes Bella's hand in his own and places them both on her belly.

"She agrees." Bella whispers as she feels Melanie moving towards the spot where their hands lay.

"Of course she does." Edward says as he snaps a picture of their joined hands. "Our baby girl is smart."

"I love you Edward."

"I love you too baby, so, so damn much." Edward says with a heavy sigh as he lays his head down on their hands.

"We're going to be ok." Bella says as she takes her free hand and plays with his hair.

"We are, because of your strength we are going to be ok." Edward says as he lifts himself out of the water to kiss Bella.

"Melly's ready for her next lesson." Bella giggles into their kiss as she feels her little one kicking her stomach.

"Patience baby girl, daddy needs a little more mommy kisses." Edward says as he rubs the spot before he returns his attention to their kiss.

After a few more mommy kiss moments, Edward gives Bella a final soft kiss before he lowers himself back into the water looking for his next teaching.

"Oh look at these little guys." Edward says as he holds up two small crabs. "We can give mommy crabs."

"Edward Cullen you will not give me crabs!" Bella laughs at the look on Edward's face as he realizes what he has said.

"That was like a bad pick up line wasn't?" Edward chuckles, his ears a little pink at his slip of words, as he puts them back in the water.

"Very bad!" Bella says as she continues to laugh.

"Good thing we brought mommy's underwater camera." Edward says as he places the camera in the water to take pictures of the creatures in their natural habitat.

"We'll learn about sea crabs at a later date."

"And all other crabs at a much, much later date." Bella giggles again.

"No worries about those crabs darling for our daughter will _never_ date." Edward says with conviction.

"You keep telling yourself that my wonderfully silly man." Bella says as she pats him on the shoulder.

"You'll listen to daddy won't you baby girl?" Edward whispers to her belly before he looks up at Bella.

"Are you ready to go back to the house to lie down?"

"I'm not tired Edward."

"Trust me my beautiful wife..." Edward says as she stands up and helps Bella out of her chair. "...I have no intentions of sleeping."

* * *

**A/N**

**Facts on starfish and sea urchins are courtesy of National Geographic.**

**Pawley's Island, SC is a small little beach community that is about thirty minutes south of Myrtle Beach. The beaches there are beautiful and the southern part of the small island has these great tide pools that are constantly changing with the tides. Great place to explore. **

**A little much needed quiet time for these two. Hope you enjoyed their moments together.**

**Thank you again for your patience. It is greatly appreciated.**

**Much love to you all! **


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